The Things I Never Knew
by Everhere Everthere
Summary: It's right after the Moodulator incident, and Kim is having some odd Ron-based thoughts run through her brain. Read and Review please! Complete!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not now, or have any time previous, owned any part of Kim Possible. That happy honor belongs to the Disney Corporation.

**The Things I Never Knew**

With a few more bright green zaps and bangs the diabolical duo was out of sight.

Ron actually felt a little bit bad for Drakken, as he watched him being chased away by Shego, guns a-blazing. He had been in a similar situation earlier and he knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of a temperamental girls anger. How did that old saying go? _Hell hath no fury like a Woman Scorned?_

_Ain't that the truth, _Ron thought to himself.

Still, Ron thought he should count himself lucky to not be in the same boat as Drakken. If Kim hadn't got that Moodulator chip off of her when she did….well let's just say there easily could've been one less person to light the menorah next Hanukah.

He looked over at his best friend who had, for a small amount of time that day, been completely and totally infatuated with him. She was following him to his classes, writing him love notes, even went as far as to stalk him in the ventilation system to make sure she would have the chance to talk to him!

At first, Ron was totally perplexed by Kim's behavior. One minute she was glaring daggers at him for losing the Kimmunicator and the next, she was looking at him like Rufus sometimes looked at chunks of parmesan.

Kim's odd behavior had all been explained however once Dr. Cyrus Bortel, an eccentric (and a little bit unethical) scientist arrived on the scene. He had explained that both Kim and Shego (who had an equally odd crush on Dr. Drakken) were both wearing Moodulator chips, a microchip that was designed to alter your brain waves to force you to feel whatever emotion it displayed, and that's what was causing them to act so strangely. Once the chips were removed, the doctor explained, then both women would turn back to normal and everything would be hunky-dory.

So, Ron wasn't surprised when he saw the young, auburn-haired, teen hero sitting on a bench looking extremely dazed. He went over and took a seat beside her:

"Tough day there, champ?" he asked her, putting on his trademark goofy smile.

"You don't know the half of it." She replied, still holding her head.

"Ron chuckled at her. "Hey it could be worse" he told her "you could have seriously maimed the Ronman during your little tirade there. I mean can you imagine the repercussions that would have on this community?!"

Kim gave an exhausted sounding laugh. "Yeah , we wouldn't want all those kids themed pizza restaurants to go out of business, now would we?"

Another chuckle, "Touche, Ms. Possible."

Kim laughed again, a little more exuberant this time. She turned to look at him:

"Listen Ron, about today…"

He waved his hand before she could finish. "Don't mention it, KP. Trust me, if it's one thing I've learned side-kickin' it up, old-school with you all these years, it's that crazy mad scientist inventions do crazy, mad things to people's heads……..well, that and always bring a spare belt."

She giggled again. Ron had a way of making her do that, even when laughing was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Are you sure, Ron? I mean, no offense, but I _really _could've hurt you back there….and as far as that whole…_crush…._thing goes….."

Ron shocked her right then by taking her face, cupping it in his hands, and turning it to face his, so that both of their eyes were in a deadlock.

"Kim….really…it's ok. I understand. You were under the influence of weird technological mayhem, it's all good! I mean, sure, I was a bit confused when you drew my name with all those little hearts around it but…."

Ron continued talking, but Kim barely heard anything he said. She was fascinated by her best friends eyes.

_Oh my god, _she thought to herself _have they _always _been like that?_

Ron Stoppable's eyes were absolutely _gorgeous._ They stood out at her like the pictures in a pop-up book, every detail about them coming at her once. The lights from the fair seemed to dance across their surface, adding their unique colors to his beautiful, chocolate irises, reminding her a Van Gogh painting she had hanging up in her living room.

Dear God_, _why hadn't she noticed those _eyes _before?

"Hello....? Earth to KP, This is the USS Ronster requesting permission to land. Over."

Kim was brought of her trance at these words, and her face turned a deep magenta.

"Hu-huh? Oh! Sorry, Ron I was just looking at the...uh…carnival and the….uh…lights…and..uh…the carnival! …I'm sorry did you say something?"

A puzzled Ron answered her:

"Yeah, I was actually suggesting that we call it a night and head for home. No offense, KP but you look like you could _really _use a good night's sleep."

Sleep! That sounded heavenly to Kim. The day's events had her thoroughly exhausted her(and she never wanted to chang out of a knee-high black dress with matching hose more in her entire life!) and she could think of nothing that would please her more than to just fall asleep and leave it all behind her.

"Sounds good to me, Ron" she said, smiling that tired smile of hers again.

"You know normally I would offer you a lift, KP, but my car fund has been a little dry since…well…always."

Kim laughed. "It's ok, Ron. It's a nice night. Walking doesn't sound too bad."

"Badical" he said, smiling that goofy smile of his again. "Lead the way!"

And with that they both began walking home, side-by-side, while behind them the excitement and wonder of Middleton Days continued to press onward.

A few hours later, Kim Possible was laying in bed more confused than she had ever been in her life.

_What is _wrong _with me, tonight? _She wondered to herself, as the sounds of the rest of her slumbering family wafted through the halls of her home. _It's not like he was doing anything terribly interesting, so why was I _looking _at him like that?_

Oh yes, poor Kim Possible was one confused young lady, all right, and with good reason. You see, during the entire walk home from the Middleton Days festival Kim could not take her eyes off the young, tow-headed, man walking next to her. While he was prattling on and on about _Bricks of Fury_ this and _Pro Wrestling _that, all the while with Rufus chattering excitedly on his shoulder, Kim was taking in the view….and she was _liking _it.

It was like all of a sudden, some crazy age magician had turned her goofy, baby faced sidekick, into a bona fide young adult. Sure, he still had his tousled head of blonde hair, frequent patches of freckles, and oversized Will Smith ears, but there was so much _more _to him now. His face, which was once plump with baby fat, was now much more refined and had a definite shape to it. His chin had become more chiseled and set. Hell, even his _eyebrows _had attracted her attention. It was almost she was starting to become...attracted… to her best friend.

As quickly as that thought had entered her mind, Kim quickly banished it. The thought was completely ridiculous. Ron was her _best friend, _not some piece of eye candy.

_But man, did you see those _eyes?_ They were the prettiest eyes I've ever…._

She shook her head violently to keep the thought from continuing through her brain. What in the world was _wrong _with her?

_You're just tired, Possible _she told herself. _You've been lead around all day by some whacked-out toy invented by dingbat inventor with a bad Schwarzenegger accent. After a good night's sleep you'll be good as new. Ron will look just the same as he always did and everything will be Chauncey. _

Kim smiled to herself. Of _course _she was tired! That was the _obvious _explanation! Tomorrow she would go find Ron, apologize for being weird, and we will return to our regularly scheduled programming already in progress. No worries. No worries at all.

And with those words still ringing in her mind, Kim Possible fell fast asleep.

She was hanging over a deep chasm filled with lava, suspended only by a rusty chain and the cliff face it was attached to. Her hands were tied behind her with a old rope, most likely from a shipyard, and was laying on her side on the floor of the cage.

Her captor, a wizard by the looks of it, with blue skin and a scar under his right eye, was standing above her gloating:

"Fare thee well, your majesty!" he said. "With you out of the way I, Lord Drakkenius, will take control of the Kingdom! Soon, the entire world will be mine!" He ended his speech with a hoarse-sounding throaty laugh.

The princess first at her captor and then at the fiery abyss below her, not knowing which was worse. Tears of fright and sadness began to fill her emerald-colored eyes. There was no way she was going to make it out of this _sitch-eth _alive. She would perish and then the evil Lord Drakkenius would take over the kingdom and rule its citizens with an iron first….and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The princess hung her head in defeat, a few tears escaping her eyes, and waited for the inevitable.

Then, just when all hope seemed lost, a strange sound caused her to look up in alarm. She looked around to find the source of the strange noise (it was almost like a squeak…or a yelp…actually it might've been an actual word in the English language) and when she found it she recoiled back in shock.

It was a knight in shining armor and his valiant steed standing in a triumphant pose on the other edge of the cliff….or at least it was a vague parody of that.

You see, some of the adjectives in that sentence were a bit of a stretch.

For starters, the "knight" wasn't wearing armor so much, as he was wearing a pair of pajamas (complete with polka-dots and triangles) and a helmet, and his "steed" wasn't really a steed. Actually, it didn't even look like a _horse!_ It was completely pink and hairless and had a pair of giant buck teeth. As for the "triumphant pose" part….well, come on…when a pajama-clad knight astride a hairless rat comes charging onto the scene the word "triumphant" isn't really the first word that comes to mind, now is it?

Still, even though they looked like rejects from an eight-year-old costume party, the princess's sprits soared once she caught sight of them. She knew that the mysterious knight was there to rescue her. She wasn't sure how or why, but she knew she was safe in his hands.

Lord Drakkenius, however, was not as impressed.

"Oh look" he guffawed at the princess's "champion." "The town buffoon is here to save the day!"

The knight, however, was not at all deterred by the evil wizards attempt at humiliation. He lifted the visor of his helmet to reveal a freckled face underneath.

"Let the princess go, Lord Drakkenium!" he yelled, in a somewhat high-pitched, nasally, kind of voice "and maybe I'll spare you the fate of going back to your mother's cottage with a black eye!"

"Urgh…it's DrakkenIUS, you buffoon! And I'll have you know that mother isn't even in the village today. She's out shopping for dragon scales with some of her girlfriends and….Dah! Never mind!"

He looked around at someone behind him.

"Could you maybe, oh I don't know, do some MINION WORK for me, please! I'm not paying to just stand around and look menacing, you know."

A figure loomed out from behind Lord Drakkenius and got into a battle stance. The figure appeared to be female, and was wearing robes of green and black. Her hands became aglow with green energy as she faced the knight.

"I'm going to go all present day society, on your ass." She said.

The knight smiled at her, however, and raised his right and beckoned to her with his fingers.

"Bring it" He said.

The sorceress charged her glowing green magic and launched a few fireballs at the knight. He dodged the first and second attack with ease, moving out of their path with the grace of ballerina. The third one, however, struck the hem of his pajamas causing them to catch fire.

"Yuuuuuaaarrrrgghhh!" the knight screamed in amusing panic as he tried to put out the fire that was currently enveloping the right leg of his "uniform" but without much success. If anything, all he managed to do was get the _other _aflame too, reducing to not much more than a screaming, panicking, fireball, with a knights helmet.

Not exactly the picture of ferocity.

Lord Drakkenius and the Sorceress were both howling with laughter at this point. Not only were they going to take over the kingdom but they were going to be treated to a comedic show as well.

The princess was starting to doubt her chances of survival, again.

Just as all hope seemed lost….again…the knight appeared to have another trick up his sleeve.

Or rather his bald companion did (_seriously, what _is _that thing?_ The princess thought to herself).

The naked beaver thing snatched the knight up by the back of his neck and cocked him back like he was pitching in a baseball game.

"Fire in the hole!" he squeaked and then launched the knight like a fiery projectile right at the two cackling evil doers.

Before she even had time to realize what was happening, the evil green Sorceress was hit, full on contact, by the fiery hero. The pair flew through the air like a cannonball passing different kinds of grasses and shrubbery (occasionally setting a few on fire) until finally landing in a nearby stream.

The princess watched with baited breath. What had happened? Had her champion been defeated? Was all hope lost? She stared frantically at the riverbank where the two had landed but it was impossible to see through all the steam.

For a few moments, all was quiet.

Then, slowly, a shadow began emerging from the steam. First all the princess could make was its head, and then most of its upper body, then, finally, the entire figure emerged from the smoky stage it had entered in from.

The princess squealed with delight. It was her hero! He was ok! He was coming to save her! He was…currently wearing no pants.

It seemed, to the princess, that the fireball flung at him by the sorceress had burned his pants completely off of his body. He stood before them now, in nothing but yellow-and-green boxer shorts and a knight's helmet.

Yet, strangely enough, the knight still wore a heroic smile as he raised his hand and pointed at his foe.

"Game. Set. Match. Drakkenius!" he said, smirking, "How about you just go ahead and surrender now before things _really _start to get ugly."

The evil Lord Drakkenius smiled an evil smile.

"I wouldn't count your chickens before they've hatched, Sir Dingleberry" he said, grasping a nearby lever. "It looks to me like you and your princess are about to have a _falling out!"_

Lord Drakkenius pulled the lever he was holding, causing the bottom holding the princess to spill outward dropping its contents to the chasm below.

The knight watched in horror as the princess began to plummet to her demise.

He had a choice to make.

He could either save the falling princess and let Drakkenius escape…or he could go after Drakkenius and let the princess fall to her death on the fiery rocks below.

He made his choice in a thirtieth of a second.

He ran to cliffs edge and extended his arms outward over the precipice, positioning himself under the falling royal. The princess landed safely in his arms just as the evil Lord Drakkenius disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The knight gently set the princess to the ground, undoing the cords that bound her wrists together. She turned around to face him.

Shining emerald met rich, chocolate, brown as their eyes locked. No words were spoken as both of them, damsel and savior, moved closer to one another. The knight placed his hands around the princess's waist at the same time as she wrapped her arms around his neck, both pulling each other in so close that their noses were touching. Their gaze never left each other's eyes as their lips met, uniting the two in a sense of bliss and wonder.

Their faces seemed to melt together as the kiss grew more passionate. The two lovers souls merged as one as the mutual love between flowed through their veins. Their heartbeats remained in synch as the two continued their kiss long after the sun had set behind the mountaintops.

And it was the most glorious thing each of them had ever felt.

Kim Possible awoke with a start, sweat running down her face.

She looked at the digital clock on her left, trying to found out the time: 5:47 a.m.

_Good _she thought to herself _because there's no way I'm getting to sleep after_ that.

The auburn-haired teen put her face in her hands as she remembered the contents of her dream.

She had been the princess…and Ron, her best friend, had been her knight in shining armor. Kind of.

Kim smiled a little bit to herself as she remembered the ridiculous getup Ron was wearing in her dream. He was always so goofy. She realized it wouldn't surprise her at all if Ron _did _show up to save her in his PJ's.

Kim shook her head, as if trying to get herself to focus on the matter at hand. She had just woken up from the weirdest dream she had ever had. Not the whole Princess/Knight scenario thing. No, Kim had had that one _hundreds _of times. Only this time it had been cast _way _differently.

When she had that dream in the past, it had always been Josh Mankey who had been her knight in shining armor. The biggest role Ron had ever had in these dreams was a bumbling peasant who (on one occasion) got a bucket stuck on his head. But not this time….This time Josh didn't even make an appearance in her dream, let alone have the lead role. No, no that honor had gone to aa certain blonde-haired former peasant.

And she had _loved _it. Despite her total and utter confusion about her dream she could not deny for a second how it had made her feel. Every nerve on her body seemed to scream out in euphoria when their lips had met and they had both shared a kiss on that mountaintop, with the beautiful colors of the sunset in the background….

_Dear god, _she thought, while feeling her arms _I'm getting goose bumps just _thinking _about it._

She flopped down on her bed in frustration. She had never been so confused. Not twenty-four - hours ago, Ron had been nothing more than her best friend, and that had been solid, irrefutable, fact. Now she was getting heart palpitations every time she thought about him.

And the weirdest thing of all was that that none of this seemed to_ bother_ her. To her it seemed perfectly natural to think of Ron in this way.

_What is going on? _She thought _am I losing it? Has all the stress of going on missions and saving the world finally driven me insane?_

She lay back in her bed, her head still pounding with all of these questions. She was still racking her brain when her alarm rang a 6:30 signifying the start of a day.

Kim Possible opened her eyes and turned to shut off the incessant ringing the alarm clock was making. She realized then that, for the first time in her life, she was scared to go to school.

_What do I do about Ron? Do I tell him about my dream? How on Earth would he react to that?_

As the young girl began to shower and dress herself for the day she wasn't sure of the answer to any of these questions.

But of one thing, she was absolutely sure….

Today was NOT going to be a normal day. Not even by Kim Possible standards.

_To Be Continued_

First Chapter of my next story! Read and review if you would please, I would very much enjoy your comments, be they good or bad!

Thanks,

_Everhere Everthere_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Just throwing it out there, I do not own Kim Possible or any of the characters. So if you could keep the suing to a minimum that would be fantastic.

**Chapter 2**

**I**

A tired and delirious Ron Stoppable awoke that morning at 7:15a.m with huge bags under his eyes and a headache. For some reason, he had had an extremely tough time getting to sleep the previous night. Every time he would start to drift off he would be startled awake by images of princess's in peril, cackling sorcerers, and enflamed pajamas.

It was damndest thing.

Still, he supposed he didn't have time to worry about it now. He was going to be late meeting Kim if he didn't get a move on.

Ron Stoppable started get ready for school.

When he went over to his clothes hamper, however, he realized that his usual attire (Cargo pants, hockey jersey, whatever-works kind of attitude, etc.) was all currently being washed.

_Great _he thought to himself _one more reason for me to be late._

He went over to his closet to see what other options he had. When he opened the door there was only one option to choose from.

_Well it's not my number one choice _he thought to himself _but any port in a storm I guess._

And with that Ron Stoppable changed into his clothes and headed out the door.

**II**

Kim Possible emerged from her room in her usual attire (i.e. Cargo, lime green crop top, go getter attitude etc.) and went down into the kitchen to have breakfast.

As she was walking to the kitchen one of the photographs hanging on her wall caught her eye. It was the one of her and Ron when they were about twelve in her front yard and Kim was trying to take an adult looking picture only to have Ron ruin it by giving her rabbit ears.

She remembered being furious with him after that picture had been developed.

**III**

"Why can't you just be normal for _one second _and take an adult picture with me?" She had asked him, angrily.

"What for?" he had responded, displaying that all-too-familiar goofy grin of his.

"Because, Ron" she retorted "You and I are in _junior high _now, it's time for us to stop acting like little kids and start acting more grown up?"

Ron laughed at her. "Kim, you _do _realize we're twelve right? I mean, we aren't even teenagers yet."

"So?"

"So… you're moving way faster than you need to. You and I, are still kids, KP. We don't have to worry about doing _anything _adult for the next couple of years or so."

Kim shot him a condescending glare, "Sounds to me like someone's afraid to grow up."

Ron laughed at her again. "I'm not _afraid, _KP, I'm just in no real hurry. Life's way too short to rush through it. Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the roses."

He bent down by the flowerbed and picked up a daisy. He handed it to her.

"Here. Give it a sniff."

She backed away from the flower, disgusted. "Yechh. No thanks, it's probably got dirt and bugs all over it."

"Suit yourself" he had said and took such a huge whiff of the flower it had actually sucked the pedals inward towards his nostrils. "Ahhh, smells like a good day."

"You are so completely weird Ron."

"I am what is, Kim."

**IV**

Kim was brought out of her reverie by the sounds of crashing china in the kitchen and the voice of her mother yelling at the tweebs. Something about no fusion reactors this early in the morning.

Kim began to think about what Ron had said that day. He had said that life was too short to rush through it all. At the time, Kim had just dismissed this comment as some weird Ronnism and didn't give it a second thought. But now that she was here thinking, _really _thinking about it, she realized that Ron wasn't just being goofy and childlike, he was actually stating a very true fact of life.

_Wow _Kim thought to herself _and he said that when we were _twelve!

Could it be that maybe Ron Stoppable was a lot smarter than anyone ever gave him credit for? People always assumed that, because of his average grades, that Ron was just an average student. But maybe there was more to Ron that met the eye. Maybe he actually knew more than most people did, but just preferred to keep quiet.

Kim shook the thought from her head. Whatever weird sitch that was currently going on between her and Ron there was at least one thing Kim could be sure of.

A modern day philosopher, Ron Stoppable did not make.

Kim headed into the kitchen to eat her breakfast and wait for her best friend to accompany her to school.

**V**

Ron Stoppable was half-running, half-walking to Kim's house trying to make it to school on time. The fact that he had gotten up late_ and _the fact that his usual wardrobe was currently going through the spin cycle didn't exactly put him on the fast track.

He was approaching the Possible home now and was now right by their front lawn. He was about to gambol up to front doorstep to meet his friend but something caught his eye, making him stop.

In the Possible's flower bed there was one, solitary, daisy, obviously the first newborn after the winter months, poking up from the ground. It was a beautiful shade of yellow, the exact color of a baby chick. Ron knelt down to pick it up. He plucked it out of the ground and took a huge whiff of it. It smelled wonderful. Just like the way he pictured the perfect day would smell. Rufus scampered out of Ron's pants pocket and scampered up his leg and watched his human smell the flowers.

Rufus smiled knowingly at his owner. Ron Stoppable may have been running late but that didn't mean he was going to miss a chance to stop and smell the flowers,

Oh no, life was way too short for things like that.

**VI**

Kim was waiting impatiently in her living room at 8:47a.m for her best friend to finally arrive.

_Geez, what's taking him so long?_

Ron was hardly _ever _late. As a matter of fact, he was usually pretty early. He liked to get here "coincidentally" at about the same time the Possible family started eating breakfast.

But today, Ron was nowhere to be found.

_I'm sure he's just running late._

But what if he wasn't?

All of sudden some horrible thoughts started to race through Kim's mind.

_Oh my god, what if he's really sick? What if something happened to him? What if those aliens he keeps talking about, finally got him? OhmygodRon! They've probably already started dissecting him! I have to do something!_

She bolted in a panic across the living room, vaulted over the couch, performed a barrel roll and landed right in front of the front door.

She was just reaching for the door handle when there was a knock at the door.

"Heloooo, Possible clan? Anybody home?"

Kim felt her cheeks go scarlet. Had she really just been completely ready to run over to the Stoppable's house, bust down their front door, and do battle with evil, invading, aliens who were trying to examine her best friend?

Dear God, what was going on with her?

Pushing all thoughts of alien invasion and sharp little doctor instruments from her mind, she opened the door.

And what she saw standing there hit her like an ongoing semi truck.

It was Ron all right; there was no mistaking that messy blonde-hair or that goofy grin, but it looked as if though Ron had gone through an aging ray or something.

His usual dress of baggy pants and faded red hockey jersey were nowhere to be found. In their place Kim saw Ron sporting a regular pair of jeans (rather tight-fitting, actually) and a solid, black button-up shirt with the top three buttons left unbuttoned. The shirt was even tucked into his pants, and he was wearing a black, leather to tie the whole outfit together, like a ribbon.

Kim was stunned.

"'Sup, KP? Ready to hit the road?"

Kim continued staring, her mouth slightly agape.

Confused, Ron lifted his hand up and began waving it in front of her face.

"Hello, Kim? This is your best friend calling, please pick up!"

Kim snapped out of her trance and looked at her new digitally re-mastered best friend.

"Ron…" she breathed. "Your…_clothes!"_

He looked down at himself. "Huh?..oh right the new threads. Yeah, it turns out laundry day came early this week. This was the only thing I had left in stock. You know, funny story…my mom bought me this shirt so I could take it to temple so I would stop looking so dumpy and……Kim, are you feeling ok?"

She quickly looked up. She had been staring again.

"What?" Oh…Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine Ron. Peachy keen!"

Ron didn't look too convinced.

"You sure, Kim? You've been acting a little…off…lately."

Kim dismissed him with the wave of her hand.

"It's no big, Ron. Really. I'm totally fine. Now come on, we'd better get a move on, or we'll be late.

She took Ron's arm and started leading him…into the direction of the school and in the direction of the totally "awk-weird" day that was sure to unfold.

**VII**

Anne Possible watched the forms of her daughter and daughter's best friend receding into the horizon with a smile on her face.

She recalled the previous night when she had come with an immense smile on her face telling everyone the "big news" about her and Ron.

**VIII**

Kim Possible nearly tore the door off of the hinges as she burst into the room belting the chorus of "Do You Believe in Magic" at the top of her voice.

Ann and James Possible were seated at the table in their kitchen, but were quickly alerted to their daughter's presence. They ran into the kitchen to see what was going on.

"Kimmie-Cub" her father had asked. "Is there any reason you're singing The Lovin' Spoonful's at the top of your lungs, scaring the daylights out of your mother and me?"

His daughter had turned to them with the most radiant of smiles on her face. Her features were positively aglow with happiness. Her eyes looked like the ocean sometimes looks, when the sun hit's it just right, and it sparkles green for miles and miles.

Needless to say, Kim Possible was in pretty good spirits.

"Sorry, dad." She said, her smile never leaving her face. "I didn't realize that you guys could hear me."

"Kimmie, I'm pretty sure the entire _block _could hear you" Anne had said. "What's gotten into you?"

Kims smile, if it was indeed possible, grew bigger when Anne had asked this question.

"Oh nothing special" she had said, although by the way she said it, it was pretty evident that whatever was on her mind was exactly that.

"Is it about some boy?" James asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh dad, that's what you _always _assume" Kim said. "But yes, it does, I, Kim Possible, just so happen to have a date to the Middleton Days festival with the most amazing guy in the Tri-City area."

Anne Possible rolled her eyes. She'd heard this song and dance before.

"Well good for you, Kimmie" She said. "When is Josh coming to pick you up?"

Kim stared at her with a bewildered expression. "Josh? Josh who?"

"Mankey, honey. Isn't that who's coming to get you?"

Kim wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Yechh, no! Josh Mankey is so last semester."

Now it was Mr. and Mrs. Possible's turn to be confused.

"Well this is new" James Possible said. "You teenagers go through crushes like Gamma Rays go through toilet paper."

Anne Possible rolled her eyes at her husband.

"Well don't leave us in suspense, Kimmie" she said. "Who _is _this new Romeo in your life?"

Kim expression brightened once again. It seemed to Anne that simply_ thinking _about this guy made her daughter's spirits soar.

"Well let's see" she had begun. "Who's the most loving, caring and absolutely most romantic person you can think of?"

Anne Possible thought for a moment. The only the person that she could think that fit the bill to that description was standing right next to her, and she _highly _doubted that's who Kim was talking about.

James Possible didn't even think about the question. He was too busy building up the instant wave of dislike at whoever this mystery boy in Kim's life was.

"Ok, you've got us Kim" Anne said. "We give up."

Kim giggled at her parents. They were going to be so surprised when she told them the identity of her secret beau.

"It's Ron, mom and dad!" she practically yelled. "Ron is taking _me _to the Middleton Days festival! Isn't that great!?"

Now, being both a brain surgeon and a rocket scientist both the Doctors Possible were trained to expect the unexpected. If a patient came into the hospital with a six-foot pole jammed up his left nostril then Anne Possible would be required to think on her feet to find the solution to the patient's life. If a rocket was lost somewhere in the Milky Way with a broken homing beacon, then James Possible would have to be at the ready with a intuitive solution of retrieving it.

But nothing, no amount of medical textbooks or rocket schematics, could have prepared them for the words their teenage daughter had just spoken to them.

They stood there looking at her.

Speechless.

Kim squealed at her still-transfixed parents and ran up and gave them a huge hug.

"I _knew _you guys would be excited" she said, embracing them. "I can't _wait _for tonight! I'm going to get ready!"

And with that Kim Possible flew up the stairs like a rocket and left her dumbstruck parents in the living room.

**IX**

Of course, once Anne had recovered from her initial shock of the news, she couldn't have been happier for her daughter and her new beau. Anne had always expected that she and Ron would someday get together. The two were pretty much inseparable as it was, even going so far as to go around the world together many times over.

She just always figured that we should have seen it coming when it finally happened. Just two nights ago, Kim had been complaining about Ron losing the Kimmunicator, and was going off on a tirade about how irresponsible he could be. Then, the very next day, as if by magic, she was on Cloud 9 every time she spoke his name.

She hadn't been this giddy about someone before, at least not to this degree. Sure, she and Kim had talked about Josh before but even then it was pretty apparent that it was just a crush. But with Ron it had been a whole new ball game. She had come home 100% _smitten _with the boy. It was like Cupid had emptied his entire quiver into her daughter's backside.

Of course, all of this strange behavior had been explained the previous night, when her daughter had told about Dr. Bortel and his Moodulators, which she considered to be extremely unethical, and the effects it had on her brain. Her daughter had told her and James that she hadn't _really _been crushing on Ron. It was just the mental by-product of an accident at a research lab. It was all really no big.

But it didn't _seem _like it was "no big." Especially not how Kim told it. Sure, she was clearly a lot less ga-ga than she had been that afternoon, but it was very apparent that there was still something there. It may not have been evident to Kim just yet, but there was no way not to notice the sadness in Kim's eyes when she informed that there was nothing between her and Ron.

Kim's eyes _always _gave away her true feelings. That was a trait she got from her father.

As she watched the two figures turn around the corner and out of sight, Anne Possible felt someone put her arm around her.

"How long do you think it'll take?" her husband asked her.

"I give it two days tops" she said, leaning into him. "They were awfully cute together, weren't they?

James Possible nodded in agreement." It's too bad it won't last"

Anne whirled around to face her husband.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because the second that boy tries anything, he'll be speeding past the horse head nebula within the hour."

Anne Possible laughed and gave her husband a huge hug. He acted like he was tough as nails, but she could see in his eyes, that he was just as approving of Ron and Kim as she was. His eyes _always _gave him away.

Like father, like daughter.

**X**

Kim and Ron's walk to school was much quieter than usual that day.

Ron had been making several attempts at a conversation, that was for sure, but Kim only answered him monosyllabically.

It wasn't that she didn't _want _to talk to him. Oh no that wasn't it at all. Ron always had interesting (if not a little unusual) things to talk about, that was one of the things that made Ron such a great person to have around.

But today, she could barely make out what he was saying.

She was too distracted by how _good _he looked. She was used to Ron dressing like he didn't care how he looked (which probably wasn't too far from the truth) so she never expected him to ever actually _look _like anything more than her best friend.

That had all changed this morning.

_Ron, sure does clean up well _she thought to herself.

She was in the middle of admiring how well the button-up shirt accented his upper body, when she saw that he (and Rufus, who was perched on his shoulder) was staring at her.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Ron!" she said embarrassed. "Did you say something?"

Ron looked at her, a mask of concern on his face. "Yes, Kim I've said several things. And by the looks of things you haven't heard a single one of them. Now..I may not be the brightest bulb in the closet, but I can tell when something's bugging my best friend."

He gently grasped Kim's shoulders and turned her around so that they were facing. A shiver went up Kim's spine when he had done this, especially when she got to look into the beautiful, brown eyes of his again.

"It's ok, Kim" smiling his trademark goofy grin (a grin that Kim was now starting to find herself very attracted too). "You can tell me what's bugging you. That's what a friend is for. Or at least…that's what PBS always tells me anyway."

Kim giggled.

_Good Lord _she thought _does he _always _make me laugh me like that?_

She looked into his eyes again. They were filled with a kind of tenderness that you can only find in someone like a best friend. She knew then, that she could, indeed, tell Ron was bugging her. Sure, it would probably freak him out a little (hell, it was freaking _her _out) but she couldn't just continue crushing on him in this way without telling him.

Wait, what?

Did she really just think that? _Was _she crushing on Ron? As impossible as it seemed that's what all the signs were pointing to. There was that thing at the carnival, her romantic (and a little bit strange) dream, and now the entire walk to school where she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

I'm gonna take _You Obviously Have a Thing for Your Best Friend _for 500, Alex.

Kim sighed. Maybe Ron _would _understand. They had both been through some pretty weird things over the years and lived through it, certainly they could live through this one.

She opened her mouth to speak:

"The thing is Ron…"

He held a hand up to silence her.

"Wait a second…." He said. "I know what's bothering you!"

Kim was shocked. "You _do?"_

"Of course, why didn't I see it before_?" _He said, slapping a hand to his forehead. "It's so _simple."_

Kim was confused (and a little bit offended), surely she wasn't _that _obvious.

"It is?"

"Of course, Kim." He said. "You're obviously just worried about going to school today because of that whole modulator thing yesterday."

Kim was confused (again). "Huh?" she said "What are you talking about?"

Ron laughed. "You don't have to feel bad Kim, I completely understand. You're worried that because of all the crazy stuff the Moodulator made you do that people are going to think that you and I are a "thing" he made air quotes while saying this last word.

Kim looked at him, stunned. She hadn't even _thought _about how the rest of the school was going to receive them after the whole modulator incident. And after seeing her kiss Ron at school and how they acted at the festival, it was pretty obvious what the student now thought of her and Ron as.

And the weird thing was, she kind of liked the sound of it.

"Look Ron…" she began.

He silenced her with his hand again. "Say no more Kim" he said. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Rufus and I will set the story straight, won't we buddy?"

The little hairless rodent squeaked in agreement.

"Ron, you don't need to…"

"Sure I do, Kim" he interrupted "I'm your best-friend. I've always got your back, whether it's saving the world or your reputation."

She knew it wasn't his intention, but those words stung like a metaphorical super-hornet.

"Ron, my reputation…"

"….will remain intact." He said interrupting her for a third time. "Like I said, KP…I got your back."

They were now at the front doors of the school and the bell signifying the one minute warning until the beginning of class rang throughout the campus.

"Oh geez, I'd better get a move on." Ron said in a panicky voice. "If I'm late to class one more time this week Mr. Barkin said he'll give me detention until I'm forty."

And with that Ron Stoppable ran towards the front door, giving a Kim a cheery wave before entering the premises.

Kim returned the wave, but only half-heartedly. The effect of what Ron had said to her was still settling in.

_I got you're back, Kim. Whether it's saving the world or you're reputation._

Dear God, was she _really _that shallow, that her best friend in the whole world would think he would need to disassociate himself from her to preserve her place on the social ladder?

The very idea of it made Kim feel horrible.

It was really rather ironic that, at this very moment, Ron was in there telling everyone who asked about it, that the thing between him and Kim was really nothing at all. Just a crazy experiment gone wrong. While she stood out here in front of the school building finding herself wishing that the she could repeat the previous day's events.

Kim shook her head in frustration again. She still couldn't grasp the fact that she was _actually _crushing on her best friend. It was just all so foreign to her. It seemed that her whole _life _was suddenly becoming foreign to her, actually, ever since that whole Moodulator fiasco….

_The Moodulators!_

That was it! All this crazy stuff she was she was feeling, her insanely weird dream, the reason she couldn't take her eyes off of him that whole morning, it was all because of the Moodulators! They must have some twenty-four hour relapse charge or something like that.

The tardy bell rang, making Kim late for class but that hardly bothered her since she was already racing in the opposite direction.

She _had _to find out for sure. She had to know if these feelings she was feeling were genuine…or merely fabricated by a crazy scientist's unethical invention.

And she knew exactly how to find out.

Sometimes it paid having a neurosurgeon for a mother…..

**To Be Continued**

…And that, friends and neighbors, is the second installment of this little fairy tale. I hope to have the third chapter up by sometime this weekend. In the meantime, please read and review this section, and I am open to suggestions!

Thanks!

Everhere Everthere


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Let it be known that I do not, have not, or will not, have ownership of Kim Possible or it's characters. That all belongs to the Disney Corporation.

**Chapter 3**

**I**

"Ouch! Shego, will you take it easy with that thing?" the blue-skinned villain whined,

"Don't be a baby" his green hued sidekick retorted as she rubbed Iodine over one of his several injuries. "You know what'll happen if we don't disinfect these wounds before you go off gallivanting on you global conquests…_Doctor."_

The diabolical duo had finally made it back to their secret lair and Shego (now moodulator free) was tending to the scientists scrapes and cuts.

Dr. Drakken seethed at his sidekick. "You know as well as I do the name "Dr. Drakken" is just a pseudonym to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies."

"And may I say what a _great _job of that you're doing." Shego replied sarcastically."

"Silence!" yelled Dr. Drakken, clearly very agitated (which was a felling he had gotten used after having Shego in his employment so long). "You'd think you'd be a little more considerate, considering it's your fault that I'm in this condition to begin with."

"_My _fault?" she asked, incredulously. "Correct if I'm wrong, but wasn't it _you're _idea to steal molecular whatsitcalled? If we hadn't gone on that little joyride, none of this would have ever happened."

"Yes, well what accidents befall you during our evil escapades are none of my concern….or that is until they start causing you _thrown concentrated beams of energy at me for three counties!"_

"Hey, don't act like you're the only victim here! Let's not forget who had to get all "up close and personal" with you when that…that…_thing _was on me."

She reached over and touched the spot on the back of her neck where the modulator (which had finally shorted out when the past by the Upperton power plant) and shivered. She would no doubt be having nightmares for weeks to come.

"So you had to get affectionate with me…was it really _that _bad?"

Shego narrowed her eyes at him.

"You _really _want me to answer that, Doc?"

Drakken was about to retort when he was interrupted by the sound of their doorbell.

"God, who puts a _doorbell _in a secret lair?" Shego, asked exasperated. "Who could you possibly be expecting?"

"You never know, maybe we're working late and we want to order in."

"But we're on a _deserted island!"_

"SHEGO!" the villainous doctor screamed, as he made his way towards the door. "I am a very powerful man, and I will not have you embarrass me in front of our guests!"

Shego rolled her eyes.

_Now, _that_ is one thing you don't need my help with _she thought to herself.

Dr. Drakken opened the door and became face to face with a man he had never seen before. He was almost the exact same height as Drakken, as he was looking right into his eyes. He was wearing a traditional three piece suit and had a full head of black hair slicked back with mousse.

This was a salesman if he ever saw one.

"Dr. Drakken, I presume?" the man asked, extending his hand.

Dr. Drakken didn't accept the handshake.

"Who wants to know?"

"Ah yes, how rude of me, introductions are in order!" the man said clearing his throat. He spoke with a very polite sounding, very baritone, British accent. "My name is Dr. Adrian Derout….and I would like to help you change your life."

Dr. Drakken frowned.

"Whatever you're selling, we're not buying." Drakken said slamming the door.

The man named Derout caught the door with his hand.

"So sorry" He said, smiling. "Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I am _not _a door-to-door salesman as you seem to believe. Quite frankly, I would think that would be obvious since we're on a deserted, supposedly haunted, island that's not on any map."

"Yeah, Dr. D isn't exactly big on the whole intelligence thing" Shego's voice said from the other room.

"Urnghh" said Dr. Drakken, his impatience rising.

_Sometimes I wonder why I keep her_

"Never mind her" Drakken said. "What can I do for you Mr….?"

"Derout. Oh and it's not what you can do for me, but rather what _I _can do for _you."_

Drakken's eyes narrowed.

"Explain."

"Certainly…may I come in?"

Drakken thought about this for a moment.

'You know I usually don't just let people into my lair…."

"Oh yes, from what I understand they usually just break in."

The sound of Shego's laughter rang from the other room.

"Nice one, new guy." She called out.

"Shego!" Drakken yelled in her direction.

"Just callin' 'em as I see 'em Dr. D!"

Drakken seethed yet again before turning to his guest.

"Fine, come in" he said through clenched teeth. "But let's make this quick."

Dr. Drakken led Derout into the main chamber of his lair. Derout took no time in making himself comfortable. He sat down in one of the chairs around the room.

"This is a nice setup you've got here." Quipped Derout. "Very rustic. The leaks and exposed pipes really add an air of malice to the place."

"Oh yeah" Shego said. "Dr. D's a regular Martha Stewart."

Drakken, ignoring the outburst from his sidekick, turned to face Druout.

"So Mr. Derout" he said, putting on the best "intimidating face" in his arsenal. "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

Derout smiled.

"It's quite simple really." He began. "I've been watching you're evil exploits for quite a while now and I couldn't help but notice how….unsuccessful you tend to be."

Dr. Drakken grimaced while Shego smirked.

"And…?" Drakken asked through clenched teeth.

"And I would like to help make your failures a thing of the past."

Derout reached into his pocket and pulled out a small slip of paper.

"My card."

Drakken took the piece of paper from him and read what was on the paper:

**Adrian Vincent Derout**

**Villainy Consultant**

"A villainy consultant?" Shego asked after she finished reading. "Is that even a real thing?"

"You'd be surprised at what you can get a degree in these days."

_The man makes a good point _Shego thought to herself.

"I don't care _what _you've got a degree in" Dr. Drakken said, standing up. "I don't _need _a villainy consultant. I can do just fine on my own."

Both Shego and Derout raised an eyebrow at him.

"With all due respect, doctor" said Derout. "I must respectfully disagree. I have, on record, that you have more than thirty take over the world attempts with zero successes. Sounds to me like you can use all the help you can get."

Dr. Drakken frowned at his visitor.

"Am I to understand that you are offering to help me achieve world domination?"

Derout smiled again.

"Dr. Drakken, I am offering you the doorway to all of your megalomaniacal dreams. All you have to do is step through."

Derout stood up and extended his hand.

Dr. Drakken, smiling, stood up as well.

"I think there may be a future for us here, Mr. Derout."

The two men shook hands, and began their partnership.

**II**

As Derout shook hands with the blue megalomaniac he had the most professional smile on his face.

But inside his head he was laughing like a madman.

_The stupidity of some people never ceases to amaze me _he thought to himself.

**III**

Ron Stoppable darted into his seat just as the sound of the tardy bell rang throughout the school.

"Safe!" Rufus squeaked, spreading his paws in a swooping gesture

Ron smiled at his hairless companion.

"We are free from detention another day, buddy." He said, giving the little mole rat a high five (or whatever you call a "high five" where the two "hands" in question are a hairless paw and an index finger.)

At about that time the teacher, a middle-aged balding man named Elton Stanfield, entered the room. He snapped his fingers three times above his head (as was his custom to get everyone in the class to be quiet) and began writing notes on the board.

Ron Stoppable began dutifully taking notes. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt the urge to take in everything he was being taught today. Even in classes as lame ans as unimportant at geography.

Ron Stoppable stared at what was written on the board:

Latitude – Lines on a map running horizontally east-to-west and gives the location of a place lying north or south of the equator.

Longitude – Lines on a map running vertically from north-to-south and gives the location 0f a place east or west of the Prime Meridian.

_Aw Crud _Ron Stoppable thought to himself.

He _hated _latitude and longitude. All those rules about east to west and north to south confused the hell out of him.

He was in the middle of trying to make heads or tails out of the notes he was taking when one of his classmates, a senior named Joel MacCready, leaned over to him.

"Hey Stoppable" he whispered, nudging Ron in his side. "I heard about you and Possible. Nice!"

He clapped Ron on his back.

Ron sighed.

He knew he was going to have to do this sooner or later.

"Dude, you got it all wrong" he said to the older boy. "There's _nothing _between me and Kim, the two of us are just friends."

A look of confusion fell on the boys face.

"But everyone's been saying you guys were kissing in the hallway" he said. "Alip smackingnd I saw you two together at the Middleton Days festival last night."

"Well, yeah, I guess you did see that" he said. "But it's not what you think. It's a pretty funny story actually…"

And Ron launched into the story about Dr. Bortel, the moodulators, Kim and Shego's crazy behavior, hiding in the float with Drakken, (he omitted the part about him losing his pants…again) and finally about how Kim had gotten out from under the Moodulators control.

"….and so then we watched Dr. Drakken get zapped into the next county and then we went home. Really, it was kind of an average day for Kim and me. Except for the whole kissing part."

(Was it his imagination…or did his heart rate quicken when he thought about that incident?)

Joel MacCready's face fell.

"So…you two aren't dating then?"

"Nope. Not even close."

(Was this _disappointment _he was feeling? He couldn't be sure.)

"Ha!" said a voice from the back (It was a student in Ron's grade, his name was Derek or something like that) "You heard him, MacCready! They _aren't _dating. I don't owe you anything!"

Ron looked back at the boy, confused.

_What the hell is he talking about?_

A girl in the front of the room (she was a senior, too. Ron had never learned her name) piped up:

"They _aren't?"_ She asked. "Then what was with all the lip smacking in the hallway?"

Derek-or-whoever-he-was answered her.

"It wasn't a _real _kiss!" he told her. "Possible was being controlled by some….uh…what you call it, Stoppable?"

"Moodulator, but I don't think I understand…."

"Yeah, moodu-something. So that means that _he" _he said pointing to MacCready "is no longer the richest kid in school."

MacCready glared at him. "What are you getting at?"

"Oh, come off it, MacCready" said another kid in the back (at this point Ron had stopped trying to remember everybody's names). "You bet that Possible and Stoppable would be a thing by the end of March, and this April 1st. And according to Stoppable there's nothing between the two of them yet, so nobody owes you anything."

MacCready's frown grew even bigger, he was clearly disappointed.

"Fine. So I was wrong" He said. "But, from what I can see, they aren't a couple so that means nobody owes anybody anything."

"Yeah" said a kid on the other end of the room. "At least not yet."

Ron couldn't believe his ears. Were the kids in his class actually _betting _on a romance between he and Kim?

"I've got twenty dollars on the end of April" said the-kid-who-might-be-Derek. "Any takers?"

"You're on!" said MacCready.

"Yeah, I'll take a piece of that!" said the girl in the front.

His classmates went on in this fashion for several minutes, while Ron sat and watched in a bewildered silence. Finally after about ten minutes of his classmates betting on his future Ron couldn't take it anymore. He cleared his throat.

The class turned to look at him.

"You guys _do _realize I'm right here, don't you?"

"Oh right…." Said MacCready, looking embarrassed, "Sorry Stoppable…"

Ron smiled to himself.

_Now _that's _more like it._

"Did you want in on this too?" he asked, "We're taking all bets on the end of April."

Ron slapped his forehead in frustration.

"Excuse me" said a voice from the front of the room. The entire class looked up to see their teacher looking at them.

And his expression was _not _a happy one.

"I will need to make an addition to next year's rule sheet…." he began "about "No Gambling" in class. Now I will thank the rest of you, to please return to your seats and resume your studying….Quielty!"

The entire class slowly did as they were told.

Ron tried to focus on his latitude/longitude notes, but he couldn't conjure up enough focus.

_They were taking _bets! He thought to himself. _A whole bunch of them were._

Ron waited for the anger to flood his body. He knew where the line was between he and Kim and the fact that someone would even _suggest _that there was something romantic between the two was simply ridiculous.

But the anger never came.

Instead he seemed to be filling up with feelings of….wonder? Excitement?

Certainly, not anger.

_Wait, a second there, Rondo _He scolded himself. _Think about what you're thinking here. Kim's your best friend. That's all and that's it._

But what if it wasn't?

What if there _was_ something between him and Kim? What if there had _always _been something there and the two of them were just to blinded the sense of "keeping things the way they are" to notice?

What if he and Kim were meant to be?

Ron shook his head in dismissal.

_Don't be an idiot, Ron. She's her and you're you. Fairy tale stuff like this only happens in the movies._

Still….

She _had _put one of whopper of a kiss on him yesterday. Hell, it had almost knocked him out cold. Surely all that passion couldn't be generated by some whacko scientist's toy.

Could it?

Ron put his head in his hands. Since when did everything become so complicated?

_I'm gonna guess right about the time you played tonsil hockey with your best friend there, Einstein._

The bell, ending class, rang at that point pulling Ron out of his reverie.

Ron Stoppable checked his pocket to see if his furless little buddy was doing ok.

Rufus was fast asleep, snuggled between a one dollar bill and a stick of chewing gum.

_Yeah I'm glad _you _can sleep. Some mammals have all the luck._

Ron sighed, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't deny the fact that he was starting to form romantic feelings for his best friend.

_Stupid freaking hormones._

He knew what he had to do at this point. He had to go and talk to Kim about it. You can't something like this hidden from your best friend for long.

Especially about something that involved her so much.

Ron picked up his bag and trudged out of the classroom.

_Maybe it won't be so bad _he thought to himself _maybe you'll find out she likes you too and you'll all live happily ever after._

_Yeah…and maybe Cousin Shawn will join the clergy._

**IV**

Elton Stanfield watched as the young, blonde-haired boy exited his classroom.

He knew he _should _give the boy (and everyone else in the class) detention for turning his classroom into a casino.

But he was in just too great a mood.

He gathered up his stuff and hurried to the teachers' lounge.

He had some news for his fellow staff.

All bets were back on!

**To Be Continued**

For your viewing pleasure, the third installment of "The Things I Never Knew."

With Labor Day weekend coming up I can't give you a definite date on the next update but I promise it will be soon!

In the meantime you know the drill…Read and (please, please, PLEASE) review. And also make suggestions if you are privy to them.

Thanks!

Everhere Everthere


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Kim Possible. No suing por favor.

**Chapter 4**

**I**

Kim Possible lay motionless as the blue scanner light crossed over her for, at least, the fifth time that day.

"No dice, Kimmie" said Anne Possible's voice over the loudspeaker. "The MRI is _still _not showing any signs of anything interfering with your brain, be it mechanical or otherwise."

The machine slid the young teenage girl out of its holding area and came to halt on the outside, allowing Kim to rise to her feet.

"Nothing?" she asked, pleadingly. "Are you sure you did it right?"

Anne Possible sighed.

"Yes, Kimberly. I'm sure I did it right this time; just as I was sure I did it right the last four times. This isn't my first rodeo, you know."

Kim collapsed in a chair, exasperated. "I know, Mom. I'm sorry I'm so demanding… I was just so _sure _something was messing with my brain waves."

Anne walked down for her perch on the observation deck and sat down next to her daughter.

Kim could already tell that a big, mother/daughter talk was about to go down. She could sense it in the air. It was similar to the feeling you get when oversleep, and when you wake up you know in your gut that you're running late. The same way Kim could feel it in her gut that she would soon be pouring her heart out to her mother and would, most likely, wind up in tears.

She _so _didn't need that right now.

"And why _is _that, exactly?"

Kim looked up at her mother and put on the best innocent face that she could.

"Oh no reason really, I just wanted to make sure everything was ok up there. You know, with all the missions and stuff, one can't be too careful."

She finished it up with, what may be the cheesiest, I-doing-ok-I-promise-except-for-not-really, smile ever worn.

Anne Possible smiled slyly.

No way was she buying that.

She figured it was time to enact the famed three-step-process of getting your child to admitting that there is a problem. This system is wildly popular with mothers all around the globe, and Anne Possible was no exception.

**Step 1: Blow your child's obviously fake cover story out of the water by stating a simple, yet base-shattering fact that contradicts it completely. **

"Kimberly Anne Possible" she began. "You have been going on save the world missions for over two years now and you have _never _asked me for a routine check up before."

**Step 2: Leave a 3 to 8 second waiting period of awkward silence for your child to let the aforementioned statement sink in, do not say anything until your child starts stepping over his or her words. **

"Well…yeah, I mean obviously _that's _true but…it's a whole different way of…I can't really explain…you remember that time when I was four and…"

**Step 3: After watching your child commit verbal suicide for about three seconds, go in for the kill by putting a comforting arm around their shoulder and tell them something that makes them feel safe and secure.**

Anne put a comforting arm around her daughters shoulder and said: "Kimmie, I'm your mother. Whatever is bugging you, you _know _you can tell me. That's what I'm here for."

Kim sighed. She didn't know why she even tried. There really is no avoiding a parent/child growing up talk. They're going to happen, no matter what.

"Well…" she began. "Ever since this whole Moodulator thing I've been having these weird…thoughts…going through my head."

Anne put on a face that said "I have no idea what you're about to tell me, sweetheart" but on the inside she was smiling to herself. She knew they were going to have this talk sooner or later. Although, she didn't really expect it would be in the presence of a giant MRI machine and that she would be in her lab coat. Oh well…Beggars can't be choosers.

"What kind of thoughts, sweetie?"

Kim looked at her mother.

"Thoughts about, Ron."

_Called it _Anne Possible thought to herself.

"I see" she said. "What _kind _of thoughts."

Kim took a deep breath, and began pouring out all of her thoughts and woes into her mother's lap. She told her everything from right after the Moodulator had been removed, to her dream, and finally finished with the way she had gawked at him the entire way to school.

"…and so then I figured that the Moodulator must have left some lasting effect on my brain waves and I figured you would be the one to come and talk to." She finished, with one final, enormous, breath.

Anne was silent for a minute as she studied her daughter. She wondered why she was so reluctant for the feelings she was feeling to be not Moodulator related. Why did she insist that these new feelings were coming to her via left over radio waves of some emotion-controlling microchip instead of from her own heart?

But deep down, she supposed she knew the answer to this question…and it didn't exactly make her swell with pride in her daughter.

"And what makes you think that all of this has something to do with the Moodulators?"

Kim stared at her mother, a look of disbelief covering her face.

"Well, how could it _not _be? You saw what that thing was making me do yesterday. I was sobbing one minute, laughing hysterically the next, and wanting to rip someone's heart out the next. That stupid little trinket made me a puppet of my own emotions."

Anne Possible nodded at her daughter.

"I remember. You were a mess. But Kim, I'm only a neurosurgeon…I have _no idea _what kind of properties those things had. I'm sorry dear, but I'm afraid I can't help you."

Kim Possible hung her head.

"Fortunately" her mother said, smiling. "I think I might know someone who can."

Anne Possible turned to the door behind her and called out:

"Dr. Bortel, could you come in here, please?"

**II**

Ron Stoppable walked down the hallways of Middleton High, keeping his eyes peeled for his best-friend, Kim Possible but so far, to no avail.

He had checked the hallways near her last class…they were Kim-less. He checked the gymnasium where they usually had cheerleader practice…there wasn't a red hair in sight. And he checked the library to see if she was maybe skipping a period to brush up on her Latin.

She wasn't.

Ron (having just making an entire round of the school) leaned his back on the wall near Kim's locker and lowered himself into a sitting position. The sudden change in position caused his pal Rufus to stir in his sleep for a little bit, but soon he was back to dreaming about what life would be like if the moon really _was _made of cheese.

_I wonder where Kim is_ The young man mused to himself. In all the years he had known Kim he had never before heard of her being late to a class (at least not after that detention stint she had done with Barkin) and he couldn't fathom why she wasn't here now.

_Maybe she's on a mission…_

No that couldn't be it. Kim _always _alerted him when Team Impossible was sparked into action, no matter what the circumstances. A small smile crossed his lips as he remembered the time Wade had interrupted a movie that he (and about thirty other patrons) was watching to tell him that Kim was waiting for him in the parking lot. Surely, if she would go to _those _lengths to recruit him on mission duty, then a simple matter of pulling him out of class would be no big deal.

So if she wasn't on a mission and she wasn't in school…

…Where was she?

He sat there, pondering the question, when a very unwelcome female found its way to his ears.

"Well, well, well if it isn't the Big Loser on Campus himself."

Ron rolled his eyes.

_Great _he thought to himself _this is _exactly_ what I needed._

"Hello, Bonnie" replied Ron, in a very unenthusiastic voice. "How are we feeling today? Evil exuding from every pore, I trust?"

The firm-figured teen flipped her short brown hair in annoyance.

"Cute, Stoppable, very cute" she said acidly. "I _love _the new get up by the way, I wasn't aware it was national "Everyone-Dress-Like-A-Funeral-Reject-Day."

Ron remembered with a grimace, the clothes he had thrown on this morning. He usually liked his temple and school clothes separate but today he had had no choice. It looks as if though now he was paying the price for not paying more attention to his laundry.

He sighed again and looked up at his tormentor.

"Look, Bonnie, as much as I enjoy our quality time together but I just don't think I have the energy to play "Tease and Riposte" so how about we just skip to me sulking away in sadness and you going off to bask in the job well done of making another person's life miserable. Sound good?"

Bonnie narrowed her gaze at him. She didn't like it when her prey had a mouthy attitude.

"As if I really wanted to waste my time chatting it up 'The Middleton Mad Dog'" she said sarcastically, complete with air quotes and a dopey expression. "The only reason I even bothered to take notice of you, was because I need to tell your attention-seeking, glory hogging, overachieving in every aspect except relationships, girlfriend that cheer practice has been rescheduled. You haven't seen her have you?"

Ron cringed at her words a little bit. Sometimes he wondered if there was anyone, be it male or female, that Bonnie was even remotely civil too.

"Not my girlfriend" he mumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Bonnie asked with irritation "I'm sorry but I don't speak loser."

Ron closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

_Don't let her get to you Stoppable _he told himself _Don't give her the satisfaction. Just tell her about you and Kim and leave it at that._

He took a breath. "Kim is not my girlfriend, Bonnie." He said, making his voice sound as stern as he could. "It was all just a big, scientific, misunderstanding…."

He then proceeded to tell her about all the Moodulator related mishaps that had occurred the previous evening.

When he had finished his tale a look of immense delight was spread all over Bonnie's face.

It was time for her to do what she did best.

"Well _that _certainly explains a lot" she said as she leaned on her left hip, a look of triumph on her face. "And to think that for a minute there, I _actually _thought that you two had hooked up."

Ron groaned internally.

_Heeeeeerrrreeee we go _he thought to himself.

"You can't really be all that surprised, you know" she continued. "Possible _may _be a glory-seeking brownnoser, but she _is _still a cheerleader, and you're still…well…you. The odds of you two actually dating are, like, one in a million."

_Just ignore it, Ron. She's trying to play you like a fiddle…don't make it easy for her!_

"Thank you for the lesson in Statistics" he said. "But if we're done here I really must be going. I think all the nastiness in the area is making me nauseous. "

He turned around to leave and escape further ridicule, but a hand, viciously clamping down on his shoulder, stopped him.

"Hang on there, funny guy" Bonnie said, tightening her grip on his shoulder. "I still need to know where Kim is…or have you two had a falling out?" She made a mock sad face at this comment.

Ron shrugged out of Bonnie's grip and turned to face the scowling brunette.

"I don't know where Kim is right now, I'm sorry to say" he said, talking quickly in order to make his escape. "But when I see her, I'll be sure to relay message." He paused a moment before adding: "Anything else I can do for you, Ms. DeVille?"

Bonnie was confused, so confused in fact that she let Ron's remark go by without so much a withering gaze. Usually Possible and this freak were joined at the hip, yet Stoppable hadn't the slightest idea where she was. Surely if she had left to go somewhere she would have told him about it.

Unless…

Bonnie smiled to herself. This was getting better buy the second.

"Don't you think it's weird that Kimmie just up and vanished without giving you, her supposed 'best-friend,' a heads up?"

Ron froze. Hadn't he been wondering that same thing not two-and-a-half minutes ago?

"Haven't really thought about it." He lied.

"Come to think of it…I don't think I've seen Kim _at all _today. You don't think she's skipping school do you?"

Ron laughed. Kim? Skip school? That was like suggesting Stephen Hawking might be taking a river dancing class.

"I highly doubt that" Ron said. "Besides…why would Kim want to skip school?"

Bonnie cheered a little bit inside of her head. The fish had taken its bait.

"Oh…I can think of a reason…"

Ron looked at her, with a strong foreboding feeling rising in his chest. He knew that tone. Drakken used it all the time. It was the tone of a criminal mastermind that was just about to reveal the clinching snippet of information that would render his foe into an emotional wreck. It was a tone that he was familiar enough with to know that he shouldn't take the bait.

But he knew he couldn't do that. Kim was his best friend in the world and if Bonnie knew something about why she didn't want to come to school then he needed to find it out.

What are friends for, after all?

So Ron took a deep breath and uttered the five words that would be his undoing:

"What are you talking about?"

Bonnie smiled.

_Yes! _She thought to herself _Can anyone say hook, line, and sinker?"_

"Well it's not that hard to figure out" she began, the glee very apparent in her voice. "She's hiding."

"Hiding? From what?" Ron asked confused.

_Here it comes _Bonnie cheered inside her mind _Hold on to your hats folks, because this ones gonna be a doozy!_

"From _you, _genius" she said, satisfaction surging through her. "She's hiding from _you!"_

Bonnie's words slammed into him like a freight train. Why would Kim, someone he had known before he could ride a bike or tie his shoe, be hiding from him?

_Don't listen to her Stoppable! _His mind raged at him _This is _exactly _what she wants you to do!_

"I don't know what you're getting at" Ron said, putting every ounce of confidence in his voice he could muster.

Bonnie laughed (a laugh not unlike one he had heard countless villains use in the past) and fixed her gaze upon him.

"Don't play dumb, Stoppable" she spat at him. "Anyone with a brain could figure out what's going on. After all that disgusting stuff that doohickey made her do, Kim Possible is too mortified to come to school knowing everyone will think she's with _you!" _She said the last word like it was some kind of swear word. "I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see Kim for the next couple of _months…_ looks like we'll need a new cheer captain…"

Ron was stunned.

Could it be true? Was his best – friend really _that _embarrassed to be thought of as dating him that she couldn't even face coming to school?

_Don't think like that! _The reassuring voice in his head screamed _She's just trying to psych you out, Kim's your best friend…she'd NEVER think that!"_

Ron wanted nothing more than to listen to that positive voice inside his head. The only problem was that it was getting smaller and smaller all the time.

"Kim wouldn't do that" he said, trying to sound determined, but to no avail. His voice had quavered like a shivering puppy the entire time.

And that was all the reassurance Bonnie needed.

"Oh?" she asked, going in for the kill. "Then answer me this…Have you seen Kim _in school _at all today?"

Ron was about to answer that he had indeed seen her when a nagging piece of information stopped him.

_You only saw her going up to the door _said another voice inside his head, this one much nastier sounding than the first. _You never actually saw her _enter _the building, now did you?_

No. He hadn't. He had gone into the school _before _she did and he had left her standing on the steps outside.

_Ooh, and remember how weird she was acting? _The nasty sounding voice said to him _Remember, how she wouldn't even _talk _to you. She just kept _looking _at you like you were some slimy thing she saw in the street. Do you remember that?_

Oh yes, he remembered that. He remembered it well.

"I'll take that as a no" Bonnie said, smirking at him. "Don't beat up yourself _too _bad though Stoppable. I'm sure Kim will be able to come to school without a mask by _at least_ graduation. Ta-ta, loser!"

And with that, Bonnie Rockwaller made her way down the hall, leaving a broken and defeated Ron Stoppable in her wake.

**III**

As she walked away from the young man that she had utterly obliterated with her words, Bonnie Rockwaller felt that all too familiar twinge of regret.

But she knew she couldn't let that bother her. She had a job to do, after all.

Truth be told she had nothing against Ron Stoppable. In fact, Bonnie always found him sort of attractive in his own way (though she would let rats chew her face off before she would ever admit it), especially today; if he dressed like that every day he would have no problem getting a girlfriend.

The thing was…he didn't.

And Bonnie hoped he never did.

You see, Bonnie was smart. She was a soulless witch…but she was smart. Bonnie knew that the only reason people like her could rise to the top of the social ladder was because of people like Ron Stoppable.

People who were awkward…

People who were ugly…

People who were _different…_

All these people were essential to keeping the natural order of things in balance.

You see, according to Bonnie Rockwaller, high school is like a pyramid.

You have your rich, pretty, athletic, and best-dressed peers at the top. They were the top dogs. They ran your organizations, they headlined your athletics, they got you pumped at sporting events, and they were the_ face _of your school.

In the middle section (the general bulk of your pyramid) you had all your average-Joes. You know, the kids who can't really play any sports and who don't look all that great but they still have an attention-grabbing personality. These kids were, more or less, interchangeable between the two other groups. A kid from the middle-sect could lose some weight and have his face clear up over the summer and be bumped up a notch for example. Or some middle-sect would challenge the authority of one who is in the upper-sect…that got you a one way ticket down under.

Last, and most certainly least, was the lower-sect kids. These were your black lipstick wearing, pimple-faced, overweight, socially awkward rejects that made up the base of the pyramid.

And they were the most important group of all.

Without the lower-sect kids, there could be no pyramid. Without those fat, ugly, little freaks people like Bonnie couldn't enjoy life at the top.

After all, how can you be superior if you have no inferiors to compare yourself too?

In short, the Bonnie's of the world needed the Ron Stoppable's of the world…

…and they needed them right where they were.

It was an Upper-Sect's worst fear when a Lower-Sect began to steadily climb the social ladder. You see, if _one _member of the lower-sect started rising to the top the others were sure to follow. It wouldn't be long, then, until _every _member of the lower sect started moving upwards into the Middle-Sect, which in turn would cause people from the Middle-Sect to rise into the Upper-Sect.

And what happens when a pyramid gets to top heavy?

It collapses, making everyone equal

No more Sects. No more divisions.

No more superiority.

And it would be a cold day in hell before Bonnie ever let _that_ happen.

She turned around one more time to look at the youth she had left behind. He looked utterly miserable sitting there…like his whole world had been yanked from under him.

Bonnie reminded herself that it probably had.

It was no secret around Middleton High that Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable were _obviously _head-over-heels for one another, whether they knew it themselves or not. They were practically joined at the hip at school. And if that wasn't enough they had travelled out of the country together countless times. It was impossible to count the number of rumors that had been circled about what the two of them did in their private lives.

So it was no surprise that the news that his best friend was mortified to be seen with him would be crushing to young Mr. Stoppable.

But it had to be done. Bonnie had to secure her rightful place at the top of the pyramid.

And if that caused a few hearts to be broken in the process, then so be it.

It was members of the Upper-Sects job to keep members of the Lower-Sect in their place.

And Bonnie Rockwaller was _very _good at her job.

**IV**

Ron Stoppable sat there, his back pressed up against the wall of the hallway, in a stunned silence.

It was like his whole world had been yanked out from under him.

He couldn't believe that Kim Possible, the same girl that had been to every one of his birthday parties (often as the one and only guest), the same girl that had gone trick-or-treating with him since before grade school, was too embarrassed to show her face at school for fear that she would be thought of as his girlfriend.

He sighed. He supposed of course he couldn't really blame her. Kim could have almost any guy in school, in the whole world even…so she couldn't have them thinking she was wasting her time with someone like _him._

He began to scold himself for what he had been thinking about telling her just a moment ago.

_What were you thinking? _The nasty voice in his hissed at him _What could the great Kim Possible ever see in someone like you? _

Ron thought about that for a moment and came up with the obvious answer…

Nothing.

And he hadn't been an idiot for thinking that where any other answer to that question.

Something in his pocket stirred, and a naked, yawning, pink head poked out of it.

"Morning" Rufus squeaked at his owner, still in the early stages of waking.

Ron smiled a sad smile. He may be one incredible loser. But he was an incredible loser with a naked mole rat. At least that was something.

"Morning buddy" he said as he began to stroke the top of the naked mole rats head. Elsewhere in the school the tardy bell or the next class sounded telling Ron that he was late for class.

But Ron didn't much care.

All he wanted to do right now was sit there and stroke his pet.

Rufus was, however, his only real friend he had anymore.

At least the only one who wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with him.

Rufus scampered up Ron's arm and rested on his shoulder.

It occurred to Ron just then just how _big _he must seem to Rufus. I mean, how many people can say that their best friend can be carried around in the pocket of his cargo pants.

As Ron sat there, with Rufus on his shoulder, still in the stunned silence that Bonnie had left him in, another thought occurred to him:

It was amazing how Rufus could find him so big…

…when he had never felt so small.

**V**

Kim Possible stared at the short, balding, European scientist before her in contempt.

He had just finished telling her that there was no way any leftover radio waves from the Moodulator could be having any effects on her whatsoever. He had said that whatever was going on with her head was more likely due to teenage hormones rather than his ingenious (if somewhat unethical) invention.

"So what you're saying Dr. Bortel" Anne Possible inquired "is that there is _no way _this invention of yours is still affecting my daughters mind?"

"Precisely" the doctor said in his slightly European accent. "M'Excuse mey moodulators have, unfortunately, been destroyed by your daughter and that temperamental green lady. One the circuitry is destroyed any effect the moodulators may have had on your daughter is now no longer an issue."

"Well, there you have it Kim" Anne Possible said, turning to her daughter. "You have a clean bill of health from the doctor. Everything is A-Ok upstairs."

Both Dr. Bortel and Anne Possible laughed. Kim on the other hand didn't crack a smile.

"Well, if that's all you need me for, Dr. Possible, I will take my leave" Dr. Bortle said. "I have many repairs to make on my moodulators…they go on sale to the highest bidder on the first of the month!"

Kim Possible sat bolt upright in her chair.

"Excuse me?" she practically yelled at the doctor. "You're going to_ fix _those things?"

"Well, yes…" said Dr. Bortel, looking confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Oh I don't know…Maybe because it's _extremely _unethical! Honestly, how can you even _think _of releasing something into the public that can create and control people's feelings!?"

Dr. Bortel stared at the young redhead, a look of confusion clearly etched on his face.

'I'm sorry, my hearing seems to be slipping in my age" he said. "Did you say 'create' feelings?"

"Yes, I did."

To her surprise, Dr. Bortel began to laugh.

"My dear girl" he began, still laughing. "The moodulator cannot _create _feelings of any kind. Emotions cannot be manufactured like some common appliance; they must be created from within."

Now it was Kim's turn to be confused.,

"What do you mean it can't create emotions?" she asked. "It seemed to be doing a fine job of it last night!"

Dr. Bortel shook his head.

"I'm afraid you are mistaken, Ms. Possible" he said. "As I've said the moodulator cannot _create _feelings or emotions. That would be impossible. All the moodulator does is channel through your memory bank and reawaken emotions you've felt in the past. For example, whenever the moodulator made you feel happy it called upon a very pleasing memory to you, like you're first Christmas perhaps."

Kim was still confused.

"And what about it made me feel angry?"

"It's the same concept. The moodulator simply channeled a time in your life when you experienced a state of uncontrollable rage. Surely, a woman in your experience could have no trouble in recalling a memory like _that_, eh, Ms. Possible."

Kim allowed a small smile to cross her lips. Oh yes, she had no problem remembering an emotion such as that. Being in close proximity with Bonnie Rockwaller tended to do that to you.

"So, the moodulator simply recreates thoughts and feelings that you already had and enhances to the finest degree. Is that it?" Anne Possible asked.

Dr. Bortel nodded. "I think she's got it."

The doctor turned to Kim's direction.

"Do you have any more questions before I depart?"

She paused.

She _did _have one more question, but she was afraid to ask it.

No, No, No… that wasn't it. She was Kim Possible, she would never be scared to ask a question.

But the _answer _to that question_?_

That was another matter.

"Dr. Bortel?" she asked taking a deep breath. "I have one more question."

The doctor briefly adjusted his spectacles before looking at her straight in the eye.

"Yes?"

"I understand how the moodulator works with all of the _other _emotions" she began "but does it work the same way with…love?"

Anne Possible smiled to herself in the corner of the room.

_Here it comes _she thought to herself.

"Ah yes…" the doctor mused, stroking the stubble on his chin. "The love question...I knew sooner or later this would come up. You must understand, Ms. Possible, that love is a very _complex _emotion. Poets and linguists have tried for centuries to accurately explain what it is and have been unsuccessful. The furthest I can gather is that the moodulator used the same concept with this emotion as it did with the others."

Kim relaxed. That made sense. If what Dr. Bortel said was true then she wasn't really crushing on Ron at all. The moodulator had just pulled up some random old memory about how she felt when she used to think about Josh Mankey. That was all.

So now she shouldn't have to worry anymore…she wasn't having any _real _romantic feelings about Ron, so now everything could go back to normal right?

Her mind told her yes.

But her heart seemed to disagree.

She remembered what crushing on Josh Mankey had been like. She got butterflies in her stomach whenever he said hi to her, she got tingly all over whenever she thought about him, and she had lied awake for hours after the night they had their first date, just remembering it.

At the time, she figured that was what love was like.

But that was nothing…_NOTHING…_compared to how she had felt about Ron when she had the moodulator.

Talking to him, walking next to him, just _existing _at the same time as him made her feel like she was in heaven. It was being in a dream…and yet being awake through it. She had felt so safe with him that night, like she was untouchable. She had felt like time was standing still and that the only thing in the world that mattered was him and her.

But most of all…she had been happy.

And not just "I got an A on my report card happy" or "I just saved an entire village from devastation happy." Oh no, she had been dancing in the street, singing in the rain, lift your arms up to the sky, ECSTATIC when she was with him.

And if _that _wasn't love, then nothing was.

The only problem was, she couldn't ever remember a time in her life when she had felt like that before.

So where did this feeling come from?

If the moodulator didn't create it…what did?

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear her name being called until about the fourth or fifth time.

She sat up in her chair.

"Huh?" she asked.

"I said, do you have any more questions for me, Ms. Possible?"

Kim stared at the funny little man in front of her before answering. The truth was she still had plenty of questions for the old man. Like, what was the meaning of these new found feelings that swam inside her consciousness, and where did this new found feeling of love come from?

But it occurred to her then that there were some questions even a genius couldn't answer.

"No, that's all I have Dr. Bortel" she said. "Thanks for your time."

"It was my pleasure, Ms. Possible. It was the least I could do after you saved my Electron Magneto Accelerator."

"Huh? Oh yeah…sure…No big."

Anne Possible showed the little doctor out the door and then returned to her daughter's side.

"Well, I hope that answered all of your questions, Kimmie." She said.

"Yeah, I guess." Kim replied sadly.

Anne Possible raised an eyebrow.

"Let me guess" she said "He _didn't _answer everything, did he?"

Kim sighed. "I don't know Mom, I just can't figure out what's going on with me right now. I still don't understand what this weird Ron sitch is…" She explained to her mother about what she had felt with Ron and her confusion on where it had come from.

"I'm just so confused. I don't know whether these feeling I have are real or synthetic, and it doesn't look like anyone can give me any answers."

Kim put her head in her hands. She could feel tears starting to form back behind her eyeballs but she held them back…there was no way she was going to cry in front of her mom.

Anne looked at her daughter and recognized the look of abysmal confusion that was on her face. It was a look she was all too familiar with…she had imagined she wore it quite a bit herself when she was falling for a certain rocket scientist.

She knew what she had to do.

"Hold on, Kim" she said. "I have something to show you."

She exited the room and about a minute later returned with a faded, pink book, complete with stickers of rainbows all over the front and back of it. Two words adorned the front cover in bold, blue crayon:

"KIM'S DIARY"

Kim looked at the aged tome with confusion.

"What's this?" she asked her mother.

"It's a journal that we bought you when you were seven on your first day of 2nd Grade" she told her "your father figured it was a good way to hone your writing skills and to keep all of your thought's recorded. We figured it would be cute to show everyone on your graduation, but I think some of the things in here might interest you."

"Why would I want to read a bunch of stuff I wrote in the second grade?"

Anne smiled at her daughter.

"Why don't you open it, and find out."

Kim sighed and opened the book. When her mother got this way it was no use arguing with her.

She turned to the very first page and was greeted with a cornucopia of letters penciled in green Crayola wax:

**This book is the propurdy of Kimberly Anne Stoppable**

Kim did a double take.

Kimberly Anne whom?

"Mom, this book says my name is…"

"I know what it says" her mother interrupted. "Keep reading."

Kim turned the page.

**Aprul 15, 1996**

**Deer Diary,**

**Ron kame ovur to my howse today, and staid along time. We plad hid and go seek for a littul bit but mostlee we just tokked. He had to go home at 7 cuz his mom said he had to go home and have suppur. I said that I didn't like it when he had to leave but he told it was ok cuz when we get marryd he wont ever hafta leave cuz well live in the same house. Im really ecsited for that cuz then me and Ron wont ever hafta be apart! Daddy says I shudint be tokking like that yet cuz we're only 7 but mommy says its ok cuz hes a boy and dussnt get it. I miss Ron wenevur hes not heer tho and whenever I haff a bad dreem I just pretend that hes here with me and that his emagunary frend Roofis is pretekting us. Sumday I no that hell al ways be wif me tho and hell pretekt me then. He promist me he'd do that and my teechur says you have to keep yur promissus or you get time out! Anyway I hafta go to now cuz mommy's getting really mad at Jim and Tim for terning ther passifyers into smok boms and the firemen just got here! Bye!**

**Sined,**

**Kimberly Anne Stoppable**

Kim finished the passage in a state of total shock.

She had never written this.

Or at least, she didn't _remember _it.

She looked up at her mother.

"Is it all like this?"

Anne nodded.

"Every word of it. You used to go on in that thing every night about what you and Ron's wedding was going to be like, how many kid's you'd have, what you're house to be like. It was almost like you kids were twenty-eight instead of seven."

Kim was stunned. If all of this was true then it certainly explained where this bizarre new feeling came from and why she was feeling the way she did about Ron. The only problem was she couldn't remember ever feeling that way in her entire life.

"Mom, I don't have any memory of any of this."

Anne smiled sadly.

"I know you don't Kim" she said "You haven't remembered any of it for the last eight years."

Her mother said this with such sadness in her voice that Kim knew that bad news was sure to come.

"Why don't I? Was I in some kind of accident or something?"

Anne laughed. "No sweetie, it was nothing like that. I think the reason behind your amnesia is something more mentality related."

Kim was getting frustrated. She hated her when her mom used "work talk" around her.

"English, please and thank you."

'Sorry" her mother said. "I sometimes forget that I'm not always surrounded by other neurosurgeons…Kim, the best thing I can come up with is that you subconsciously blocked out all of these memories and feelings you used to have for Ron. Sort of like, people who witness a tragic accident seem to erase all of the details about it from their mind so it doesn't haunt for the rest of their lives."

"But why would I want to block out my memories of Ron."

The sad smile returned to Anne Possible's face.

"Because, Kim" she said. "You grew up…and Ron didn't. You started to get involved with peers other than Ron and really put yourself out in the world, while Ron preferred to stay in a world of his own. As you two grew older, your peers started to become less accepting of Ron and more accepting of you. The best I can figure is that your desire to be accepted outweighed how you felt about Ron until you had no memory of it all."

Her mother's words sank into Kim much like ball bearing would sink in a pitcher of lemonade. The truth went in fast and it struck her at an abnormal speed.

And boy, did it hurt.

She knew her mother was right of course, she always was in matters like these. It all made perfect sense now. All these feelings she was having for Ron weren't created by a machine at all, but rather they were just hidden away in her subconscious so that they wouldn't surface and cause her to fall for her best friend. She had locked away her true feelings deep within the confines of her mind so that she could continue to crush on more socially acceptable people like Josh Mankey…

…and she hated herself for it.

God, was she really that shallow of a person that she had to cover her true feelings for someone just because he wasn't athletic, rich, or heavily muscled? How could she ever call herself a role model to children when she couldn't even follow the single most important rule in the world…_ Do unto others as you would have them do unto you._

She felt the tears coming on again and this time she let them fall.

Anything was possible for a Possible, even crying in front of your mother.

She continued crying even after she felt the hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok, Kim" she said. "None of us are perfect. If we were all of those reality shows on TV would be boring."

She laughed a little at that, but she still felt horrible.

"Ron must hate me." She sniffled.

"Oh, I highly doubt that. I don't think he would continue to race around the world with you on any given day."

Kim wiped her eyes and looked up at her mother.

"What do I do now, mom?" she asked. "How can I go back and face Ron after I know how bad I screwed everything up."

Anne laughed. "Oh honey I don't think you screwed anything up with you and Ron yet. You know, a wise man once said…"it's never too late to fall in love. My advice is that you should go talk to Ron. If he's as good a friend as I think he is, he'll listen.

Kim turned her gaze to the floor.

"What if he doesn't like me back?"

Anne pulled her daughter in for a tight hug.

"That's a risk you'll have to take, honey. The game of love is very risky business. But I can tell you one thing…when you find the one person out there for you..it makes it all worthwhile."

Kim returned her gaze to her mother. She remembered the way she had felt around Ron when she was under the influence of the moodulator again. She could still remember the way her body shook due to the rapid beating of her heart. If Ron really was the person that could make her feel like that all the time…then he was most definitely worth fighting for.

Kim rose to her feet.

"Thanks mom" she said, pulling her mother into a huge hug "for everything."

Anne Possible returned the hug with vigor, a small tear running down her cheek.

"That's what I'm here for, honey."

Kim broke the hug and walked briskly to the door. She turned around to give her mother one final wave before exiting the hospital and breaking into an all out run.

She was in a hurry, after all.

It's not every day you tell your best friend you love them.

_Here I come, Ron _she thought to herself, her heart moving even faster than her pounding feet _I hope you're ready for me._

**VI**

Anne Possible watched as her daughter sped down the walkway of the hospital and out of sight with tears glistening in her eyes.

_You go get him, honey _she thought to herself _and don't you ever let him go._

She knew that there were some tough times ahead for her daughter, being in love was never something that was easy.

But she knew I her heart Kim could handle it.

After all…

Anything is possible for a Possible

**To Be Continued**

Sorry about the long update folks, but Labor Day weekend proved to be much more of a hassle than I anticipated. On a lighter note here is the fourth installment of _The Things I Never Knew _for your viewing pleasure. Please read and enjoy. Oh and also review if you have the time. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Thanks again

Everhere Everthere


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: There is no owning of Kim Possible in this dojo!

**Chapter 5**

**I**

Dr. Drakken and Shego stared dumbfounded at their new "consultant."

"Surely, you can't be serious…" Said Drakken.

"Oh, I am quite serious, Dr. Drakken" said Derout, that ever present cocky smile on his face. "I understand the plan is a bit unorthodox…"

"Unorthodox!?" Shego interjected. "It's impossible!"

"I disagree. I believe that nothing is impossible, some tasks are just quite a bit harder than others."

"You want us to break in a secret United States Government testing facility!" Dr. Drakken roared, "These guys have top-level security! Snipers on every roof! Guard dogs as big as horses! A reasonable 401K plan! There's no way we'd ever get one _foot _on the premises."

"Oh yes, there is no doubt it will be difficult." Derout said calmly. "But I have complete faith in the both of you. I wouldn't have suggested a plan of this caliber if I wasn't sure I had the most competent task force at hand."

But Drakken and Shego were still not convinced.

"Yeah, nice pep talk there, coach." Shego said, "But in case you didn't know, this isn't like busting into some think tank in Switzerland. This is Washington D.C. we're talking about! This is the big leagues! You honestly think the man who can't even build his own robot army can compete with that?"

"Shego!" Drakken seethed. "The robot army I built was perfectly fine! It just had a few…setbacks.

"Setbacks!? They didn't _work!"_

"If I could direct us back to the task at hand…" Derout said, "Then I think I may be able to shed some light on my plan of action."

Drakken and Shego reluctantly did as they were asked. They sat down.

"Now that I have your attention…" Derout began, taking a seat himself, "here's what we're going to do…"

**II**

By the time Derout had finished relaying his plan Drakken had Shego had big smiles on theor face.

One thing was for certain…this guy knew how to play the villainy game.

"When should we begin?" Drakken asked, an eager smile on his face.

Derout answered his question with a very sinister smile of his own.

"Immediately."

**III**

Dr. Cyrus Bortel collapsed into a chair in his Washington D.C. hotel room.

He was exhausted.

Which was understandable, the poor little European had had _quite _the week.

First there was the whole fiasco with the moodulators and the electron magneto accelerator (he had decided on the way home that he was going to install a security system first thing the next morning) and then, of course, there was the Q and A with Kim Possible.

_Poor girl _he thought to himself _I hope she figures out whatever she has on her mind._

He had been a teenager himself once and he knew that no matter how smart you were…hormones would do a lot of your thinking for you.

The night of his senior prom was proof of that.

And, on top of that, he also had been flying in and out of the United States on secret business assisting them with that "little project" of theirs.

He shuddered as he thought of what the repercussions would be like if anyone ever tried to snatch _that._

Of course, they probably had a better holding facility than a small hut in the middle of the Amazon.

Dr. Bortel was just about to brew some coffee when his doorbell rang.

_Who could that be? I don't know anyone in this neck of the woods._

Dr. Bortel walked to the door and turned the handle.

Big mistake.

**IV**

**I'm walkin' on sunshine!**

**Whoa-oh-oh**

**I'm walkin' on sunshine!**

**Whoa-oh-oh**

**I'm walkin' on sunshine!**

**Whoa-oh-oh**

**And don't it feel good!**

The song by _Katrina and the Waves _flowed through the mind of Kim Possible like a river as she walked through the doors of Middleton High School. The more that certain phrase echoed through her head, the more excited and confident she got.

Oddly enough, before today, the words to that song didn't make any more sense to her than a pop song in Norwegian. She always wondered why anyone would _want _to write a song about "walkin on sunshine." First of all, since light comes to the earth in the form of rays it was physically impossible to walk on sunshine as there is nothing to solid about it to support your weight. Secondly, even if one _could _walk on sunshine, why would you _want _to? It would most likely be excruciatingly hot and you would most likely get cancer from the UV rays in a New York minute.

But now, none of those thoughts were going through her mind. She didn't care if walking on sunshine was impossible or not because, when you're in love, _anything _is possible.

During that walk to school every song she had ever heard by _The Beatles _made perfect sense to her (except for the ones on _Abbey Road _but let's face it: NO ONE understands those) and the feeling was amazing. She felt just like a little kid feels as he's walking to the tree on Christmas morning with all the visions of possible present ideas dancing through his head.

And Kim knew exactly what she wanted to waiting for her under the tree; a certain blonde youth with a fondness for naked rodents.

Kim shuddered with happiness. Although she was now one hundred percent certain about where her feelings with Ron lay it was still extremely odd thinking of him in those terms. But, as odd as it was thinking of him that way, it was also one of the most welcome thoughts her brain had ever conceived.

One thing was for sure: No amount of Josh Mankey's, Hirotakas, or Walter Nelson's combined could make her heart flutter and palpitate as it was doing right now.

And she loved it.

Kim looked up at the clock on display in the main hallway. It read 11:45, which meant that she had missed _all _of her morning classes and that it was now time for lunch. The school was sure to inquire why she had gone and played hooky for half-a-day, but Kim didn't care. The only thing on her mind right now was Ron, and all the amazing things she had to tell him.

She made tracks in the direction of the cafeteria, with each step echoing around her.

**V**

Ron Stoppable made his way through the lunch line much like an octogenarian would move through the line to medicine for arthritis. Slow, unaware of his surroundings, and in excruciating pain.

But not _physical _pain, of course, but _emotional _pain. Although, given his current circumstances, he would have much preferred the former.

Ever since his little confrontation with Bonnie, Ron had pretty much checked out of his body.

He shuffled through the hallways like a zombie, not looking anyone in the eye, until he had found the right class, and once he was in there he was no more teachable than a piece of stale wedding cake.

For Ron Stoppable's mind was not on education…but on a certain red-haired, green-eyed, woman that might has well have ripped his heart out, sautéed it, and had it for dinner with his self-respect as a side dish.

As he moved along the lunch line he replayed the entire day through his head for about the thousandth time, trying to see if there was some way that maybe Bonnie was wrong.

But, try as he might, he could only find evidence that supported her theory.

And it caused his insides to wither away and die like some forgotten crate of fruit.

He got up to the lunch lady and held out his tray, ready for her to pile on whatever inedible slop she was serving that day.

The lunch lady paused.

"What, so that's it?" she asked, "no smart-aleck request for some foreign dish or a quip about how the food is prepared by illegal Cuban immigrants?"

Ron looked up at her, barely even registering what she asked.

"No, this is fine" he said as she slopped some food on his plate, "Thanks."

And Ron Stoppable walked away without saying a word.

**VI**

The lunch lady watched him go with a mix of sadness and confusion. She recognized the look on the poor boys face. He bore the unmistakable look of someone who's just had his heart shattered into a million pieces.

The lunch lady shook her head sadly as she continued to serve people in the line. She had always liked Stoppable. Sure, he often made rude comments about her food and was a bit of a smart-ass, but at least he _talked _to her and didn't just shuffle through the line without sparing her a glance as everyone else did. And for an old widow in her late-sixties that was like a much anticipated Christmas present.

She sincerely hoped that whoever had done that boy wrong would get what was coming to her…

…and that we would all be around to watch it.

**VII**

Kim Possible opened the doors to the cafeteria and scanned the room for her best friend.

_I hope I can still catch him _she thought _If I have to wait until after school to talk to him I'm afraid I might burst._

After surveying the scene she finally found her quarry sitting at their usual table, alone save for his constant hairless companion standing next to him on the table.

Kim spirits soared as she ran over in his direction, not even bothering to get herself any food.

She ran up to up to the table and practically jumped into the seat next to him.

"Hey!" she gasped, breathless.

Ron didn't even look up from his tray.

Confused, she repeated herself, thinking maybe he didn't hear her.

She received the same response.

Growing concerned, she scooted up closer to the young man so that they were almost touching.

"Ron?" she asked, "Are you ok?"

As if he just realized she was there, Ron looked up at her. The usual sparkle of youth and happiness was gone from his eyes, only to be replaced by a soulless, blank stare.

"Fine" he said in a monotone "I'm as right as rain."

Kim's concern was growing. This talk wasn't going like she planned it at all.

"Ron, are you sure you're ok?" she asked pleadingly, "Because there's something important I need to talk to you about."

"No. There isn't." he said returning his gaze to his food.

"H-huh?"

"What have you suddenly become hearing impaired? " He asked her, his voice as cold as ice, "I said, you don't need to tell me anything, I already took care of it."

Kim was taken aback, stunned. In all of the years that she had known Ron, he had _never _spoken to her like this, like she was some kind of sickening creature that had just crawled out of the ocean.

"Ron I – I don't know what you're talking about. What..?"

Her sentence was interrupted however when Ron slammed his fist down on the table, hard enough to knock Rufus down on the floor.

"What's the matter?" he spat at her, "Can the great and amazing Kim Possible not comprehend how we bottomfeeders talk? Is it that we talk too slow and dopey or does your brain move to fast to hear us?"

Kim stared at him, shocked. _What is _wrong _with him?_

"Well here's the thing, Kimberly, I already spread the word around about the "unfortunate accident" that happened between you and me yesterday. Everyone knows now about the Moodulator, and Drakken, and the reason behind the kiss, everything! So, I am pleased to inform you that you can now roam these halls free from the notion of our classmates thinking that you would ever even think of locking lips with someone was unworthy as I am."

As soon as he was done talking he turned back to his food and continued eating as if Kim wasn't even there.

Kim stood there staring at him, feeling like she'd just been kicked in the gut by Steel-Toe. Not only had she not told Ron how she felt about him yet, but now it looked as though he was under the impression that Kim didn't ever even want to be _seen _with him, let alone date him.

"Ron" she began, her voice wavering. "I don't _what _your sitch is but I honestly have no idea…"

"Save it, Kim." he interrupted, "You don't need to explain anything to me, I understand. If it'll help I'll stay at least twenty feet away from you until graduation. Do you think I could talk to you via mail just so long as I write under assumed name?"

"Ron" she said, her voice breaking. She could feel tears coming on. "I don't what's been going on here since I've been gone but I'm telling you, you have the wrong idea."

"Oh?" he said, folding his arms. "So you mean to tell me that you _didn't _skip school today so that you wouldn't have to be seen with me?"

"What!?" she screeched, the tears forming at the edge of her eyelids now. "That's ridiculous! You're my best friend, Ron, I would never think that! As a matter of fact I wanted to find you to tell you that…"

_Beep-Beep-Be-Beep_

_You've got to be kidding me._

'You're being summoned" Ron said, his voice still retaining that icy tone.

Kim withdrew her Kimmunicator in frustration.

"Not a good time, Wade." She hissed.

"Sorry" the young tech guru apologized. "I tried to get you earlier but I couldn't reach She hissed.

"Sorry" the young tech guru apologized. "I tried to get you earlier on your school monitor didn't get an answer from you, and when I beeped your house, your mom told me that she had just gotten done talking to you at the hospital. She said you were having some problems with Ron…"

Wade trailed off, waiting for Kim to explain, but instead all he saw he saw was a horrified expression on the young girls face.

"Ron!" she said, calling after the retreating figure of her best-friend. "Come back…it's not what you think!"

But he had already exited through the doors of the cafeteria and out of sight.

**VII**

Rufus looked from Kim , to the door, and back to Kim in total confusion. He wasn't sure what was going on between the two closest humans to him but he knew to which one he owed his supreme loyalty. He threw Kim an apologetic look and headed out the door to find his human, leaving a very confused and sad redhead in his wake.

**VIII**

Kim watched in a sort of hushed sadness as the man to whom she was about to bear her heart too, stormed away from her.

She played the scene over in her head again and again, trying to figure where she had gone wrong, what she had done to upset him so much.

But she was drawing a blank.

_Well congratulations, Possible. You have officially managed to screw up everything._

Her pity party was interrupted by a voice coming from the device she held in her hand.

"Kim? Kim? Are you there?"

_Wade! _In the chaos of everything that had happened she had forgotten all about him.

"Yeah?" she asked, the sadness definite in her voice.

"Kim" Wade began, "You got a hit on your site from a Top Secret Research Facility in Washington D.C. They said they received a video of…"

Wade stopped in his tracks when he looked up at the face of the person to whom he was communicating with.

"Oh my gosh, Kim!" he exclaimed, "What's wrong?"

Kim froze. She really didn't want to talk to Wade about her relationship problems at the moment.

"Nothing" Kim lied, putting on a fake smile. "I'm perfectly fine."

"But – But you're crying!"

Kim gasped. She reached her hand up to her face and found it to be completely soaked in her own tears. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying. But deep down it didn't really surprise her. Those things Ron said had really hurt her.

But still…Wade was only twelve years old. The kid may be a super genius when it came to computers but when it came to real life stuff he was a dunce.

"Oh…well that's because we had onions for lunch. It's no big, Wade. Really."

"You sure?"

Yes, I'm sure." She said, forcefully this time. She never wanted a subject dropped more in her life. "Now what was it you were saying about a Research Facility?"

Wade, obviously taken aback by how Kim had spoken to him answered quWhat ickly:

"Oh…They need your help…They say it's urgent."

Kim nodded. "Tell them I'm on my way."

"Can do, Kim. I'll have a plane there ready for you and Ron in about thirty seconds.

Kim cringed at the sound of hearing Ron's name. The memory of their fight came flooding back into her head, which, in turn, caused the tears to return to her eyes.

"Um, Wade" she said, fighting back the wave of emotion that threatened to overcome her. "I don't think Ron's going to come with me."

The statement through Wade for a loop. Kim and Ron ALWAYS went on missions together…what was going on?

"Why not?" he asked, "Kim what is going…"

Kim turned the Kimmunicator off silencing him. She hated to be so rude to Wade, but she just couldn't bear talking about her current sitch to anyone else.

And so, wiping her eyes, she exited the cafeteria to go and catch Wade's ride.

Because Kim Possible had a job to do…

…with or without Ron by her side.

**IX**

The young African-American female watched in a sort of awed silence as the scene involving he two best friends unfolded in front of her.

She watched Kim almost skip into the cafeteria (man, the girl looked happy), Ron visibly yell at her, Kim get a call on her gadgety thing, Ron storming off in a huff, and then a saddened, defeated looking Kim leave as well.

Now, Monique was not a genius by any means but she could certainly tell when was definitely NOT calm on the western front.

She knew she had to intervene. If those couldn't see what is front of their own eyes on their own…then by god, she would be there to make them.

Monique sighed: _Where would those two be without me?_

She then chuckled to herself and said: "The same place I would be if I didn't have them.

Monique then set her lunch tray down, all thoughts of eating it forgotten, and went out in search of Ron.

_If you're going to have to bang sense into two people's heads _she thought to herself _may as well start with the one that's thicker._

**To Be Continued**

And so ends the fifth installment of _The Things I Never Knew. _Sorry, this chapter was a little bit on the angsty side, but fear not…plenty of action and romance soon to come.

In the meantime please read and review. Your comments, be they good or bad, are always welcome.

Merci Beaucoup,

Everhere Everthere

**IV**

The young African-American woman watched is shock as the scene involving her two friends unfolded.

She saw Kim approach Ron, Ron visibly yell at her, Kim answer her Kimmunicator, Ron leaving in a huff leaving Kim sad and dejected, and then Kim herself leaving.

Now, Monique was not a genius by any means, but she could tell when all was NOT quiet on the western front.

She knew she had to intervene. They were her best friends after all, and if they couldn't see reason themselves then she would have to do it for them.

She sighed and thought to herself: _I wonder where those two would be if they didn't have me around?_

She chuckled to herself and thought again: _Probably in the same place I would be if I didn't have them._

Monique sat her lunch on the table, all thoughts of eating gone from her mind, and then left to find Ron.

_If you have to pound sense into two people _she thought _may as well start with the one with the thicker skull._


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of its characters.

**Chapter 6**

**I**

Adrian Derout sat calmly in his chair staring at the behemoth of a television screen in front of him.

The time was almost upon him.

"Um, yeah, 'scuse me?" said a voice from behind him. "I love sitting around watching the telley as much as the next person but, in my experience, high-priority, top-secret, military prototypes don't just up and steal themselves.

Derout gritted his teeth. The second these two nimrods outlasted their use, he would be a very happy man.

"Patience, Shego, patience." he replied calmly in his soothing baritone voice, "The time for us to make our move is almost upon us."

"It had better be" the blue-skinned villain said from behind him, "I'm wasting valuable supreme dictator time here watching an empty stockroom!"

Derout rolled his eyes. Clearly the gentleman behind him didn't know the first thing about a well executed plan. Not that this surprised him. He had chosen very carefully over which villain he was going to "consult" in the areas of world domination. And these two were the perfect pigeons, right down to the lack of a college education.

"I understand your enthusiasm, Doctor" he said, "and I only ask that you remain patient a moment longer." He smiled as he looked back to the screen. "I estimate our guest is just about to arrive."

**II**

The young red-haired stared solemnly out the window of the 160 Learjet, engaging in a constant battle to block the flow of tears.

Why had he said all of those horrible things to her? What had she done to him? How could he think that she was embarrassed to be seen with him?

Her mind drew up a blank.

Her Kimmunicator beeped again for what must have been the eleventh time that trip and, just like the other times, she quickly silenced it. She knew that it was just Wade calling again and again trying to figure out what was wrong but, although she appreciated his concern, she really didn't feel like talking to him.

Hell, she didn't feel like talking to _anyone._

She figured the sooner she could save the world, the sooner she could go home. Maybe someone there could make some sense of this.

Then again, she doubted that the knowledge of what to do when your best friend, to whom you were about to pour your guts out to, was suddenly under the impression that she was embarrassed to be seen with him fell within the knowledge spectrum of a brain surgeon and rocket scientist.

She sighed heavily and leaned her head against the window.

A voice from the cockpit broke her train of thought.

"Somethin' gettin' you down there, Cherie'?" the voice asked in a thick bayou accent.

Kim looked up in the direction of where the voice came from. The owner was a man in about his late thirties. He had had hair the color of a wheat field with the eyes to match, and a thin moustache graced his upper lip.

"Oh, it's nothing" she lied, "just have a lot on mind at the moment."

The pilot laughed.

"Oh no there, Cherie" he said, "You can't pull le wool over Ol' Remy's eyes. It looks to me like your havin' some bona fide trouble with a little crawfish you have your eyes on, neh?

Kim was utterly confused. What did shellfish have to do with anything?

"I'm – I'm not sure what you mean" she stammered.

The pilot laughed again, harder this time.

"_Mon erreur, Cherie, mon erreur" _he said. "You'll have to forgive Ol" Remy. Sometime he forget not everyone grow up where he did. I mean you got yourself some boy problems, neh? Go ahead Cherie, tell Ol' Remy all about your little crawfish."

Kim was hesitant. She didn't usually open her heart to everyone who gave her a ride somewhere. But then again, she couldn't recall ever being this emotionally troubled before either.

Deciding it couldn't hurt she opened her mouth and told the helpful Cajun man everything. The moodulators, her talk with her mom and Bortel, the way Ron had treated her, she left no stone unturned.

By the time she was finished there were fresh tears running down her face…but she felt like a like a mountain had been lifted from her chest.

The young had sat there quietly while Kim told her story, nodding in all the right places, and really listening to her tale. She wondered if maybe, just maybe, this complete stranger might be able to shed a little light on her current 'sitch.

After several moments of silence, the young man spoke.

"Let me tell you something, Cherie" he said, turning around to face her, "I don't know this Monsieur Ron from Adam, but I do know one thing, and that is that a man's ego is a very fragile thing. It's more delicate than the crispiest croissant." He licked his lips before continuing. "It is sounding to Remy that your friend is a victim of _Le tounge de la chienne!"_

Once again, Kim was left in the dark.

"I'm sorry" she said apologetically, "but I don't speak French."

The pilot laughed. "The saying translates roughly to 'The tongue of the bitch'"

Kim gasped. Her rides had never used profanity before.

"It is appearing to Remy" he continued "that some little _chienne _has been warping your friend's brain. She be going deep into his head and turning his self confidence into le fricassee!" He smiled and looked at her. "And when a young man has a fricasseed ego, he tend to say some things he don't really mean, neh?"

The light flashed in Kim's brain. Of course! Being his best friend for so long, Kim knew that the best way to Ron was by attacking his self-confidence. If anyone of his insecurities were tweaked even a little he could be rendered into an entirely different person. The only question was who would be cold and heartless enough to willingly try and break up a friendship like her and Ron's?

As if she even had to ask.

"Bonnie." Kim said, anger resounding in each syllable.

The pilot raised his eyebrows.

"Well now" he said "It look like you know just the _chienne _I'm talking about, neh, Cherie?"

"Oh yeah" she said, her words still seething "And when I get back to Middleton the fur is gonna fly."

The pilot chuckled. "_J'espere que vous battez le merde hors de elle, fillete."_

Kim stared.

"What did you say?"

The pilot grinned. "Cherie" he said, laughing, "You don't wanna know!"

A light on the control panel started to blink.

"_Regard la!"_ he exclaimed, taking the controls, "This is le place where we part, Cherie."

But Kim was already suited up, parachute and all, ready to jump. She wanted to get this mission over with as soon as possible. There was a certain snarky brunette in Middleton whose face needed a good pummeling.

"I'm ready to drop when you are" she said, turning to the friendly cajun "Thanks again for the ride, Mr…."

"_Oh viennent maintenant" _he said "My friends call me Remy, Cherie."

Kim smiled. "Thanks again, Remy" she said "For everything."

And with that Kim Possible jumped from the plane and began free falling to the Earth below.

**III**

Remy LaRoche watched the young teen hero parachute to the ground with a smile on his face.

_You go and save the world, Cherie _he said _and then you go home and get your crawfish back. _

Grinning, Remy closed the hatch of his plane and continued his course back to base.

**IV**

The thief stood idle at his post waiting for orders from his master. He was a dank, deserted room, completely devoid of light. It was most likely the basement of a basement in some long forgotten building.

He was motionless.

A rat crawled across the floor and stopped at his shoe, sniffing. He didn't move. The rat proceeded to climb up his the leg of his pants; it continued to climb until it was standing on his haunches, right by his ear. It started to sniff the lobe of his ear in earnest. The thief was terrified of rats. The mere thought of them made his skin crawl like an army of ants.

Yet...the thief did not move; he didn't even twitch.

And he _wouldn't _move not until his master had told him so.

He wouldn't do _anything _until his master told him so.

The rat, losing interest, left his shoulder and went off in search of food elsewhere.

The thief took no notice.

He just continued standing.

**V**

The young boy slammed his locker shut with such force that (for the second time that day) it caused his pet naked mole rat to fall from his perch on the young man's shoulder down to the ground.

"Sorry buddy" Ron said, picking up his pet and placing it in his pocket, "it looks like everyone's getting shook up around here today."

He scanned the hallways for a glimpse of red-hair but he was unsuccessful.

_Yeah, there's a shock, _thought Ron _after that little stunt in the cafeteria she'll probably transfer to a new school._

He left in his locker behind and started moving in the direction of his next class, thinking about his previous confrontation with Kim. It wasn't at all something he enjoyed remembering.

_I can't imagine what everyone's saying about us now. We'll probably have our own reality show but next fall._

_That is…if we're even still talking by then._

Ron continued walking and feeling sorry for himself until a voice from behind pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Hey! Ron!" It called, "Wait up!"

Ron turned to find a young African-American female running up to up him.

He smiled as he recognized his friend, "Oh. Hey Monique."

"Hey, yourself" she said, as she caught up to him. "That was quite a little spectacle you put on in the cafeteria."

Ron groaned internally. _Man, am I getting this already? I don't get a "how are you" before the third degree?_

"Yeah, don't remind me" he said, turning away. "Look, Monique, I'm not exactly in what you'd call 'the best chit-chatty mood' so if you don't mind…"

"Actually, I do mind" she said, grabbing on to his collar thus holding him in place, "You see, when one of m

"Actually, I do mind" she said, grabbing on to his collar thus holding him in place, "You see, when one of my best friends hurts another one of my best friends in a public setting, I kind of want to know the story behind it."

Ron glared at her. "And you think _I'm _the bad guy in this scenario…is that it?"

"You telling me you're not?"

Ron hesitated. From Monique's point of you it would certainly _look _like Ron was the bad guy, but that's only if you didn't know the whole story…unfortunately, this was not something Ron Stoppabe was so keen on telling.

"Forget it, Monique." He said, "You wouldn't get it even if I told you."

"Oh yeah?" she asked, "try me."

Ron sighed. He knew a lost cause when he was saw one and it was clear that Monique wasn't giving up without a fight.

"Fine" he sighed. "I assume you know the story about the Moodulator right?"

Monique nodded. "Everyone does. The whole school's talking about it. But I don't understand what's got _you _upset... I thought it was Kim who was at the mercy of the crazy little doohickey."

Ron nodded. "So did I at first. But now I'm beginning to think that I was just as much a victim of that thing as she was."

Monique looked at him, intrigued. "Explain."

"I don't know Monique...so many new thoughts and feelings are coming at me at once it's hard to figure out where to begin, not to mention all the weird stuff that's been happening today." Ron thought for a minute before adding. "For example, did you know there is one huge bet going on predicting when Kim and I are going to hook up?"

Monique hesitated. Truth be told she _did _know about that certain piece of information. She had about thirty dollars on the end of June. However, she figured now wasn't the time to bring that up.

"I had no idea", she lied.

"Yeah, I didn't either" he said, "at least I didn't until about three hours ago."

"Ok, well I understand why that would make you mad but I still don't see…"

"Make me mad!?" he interrupted her emphatically. "Monique when I heard about that it was like some brand new person awoke inside of me. It was some weird new level of confidence I've never felt before."

Monique, now even more confused, asked: "You're not making any sense, Ron…if that wasn't what caused you to turn into a bona fide jerk back there then what was?"

Ron paused for a moment and looked right into Monique's eyes.

"Picture this for me, would you, Mon?" he began, "Picture hearing from everyone of your peers that, most of whom you don't even know, telling you that they have actual money riding on you hooking up with the girl you recently realized you've been harboring feelings for since before you could tie your shoe. Have you got a pretty good image of that?"

Monique, knowing where this was going and not liking it one bit, nodded.

"Good," he continued, "Now I want you to picture feeling absolutely, one-hundred percent, on top of the world with happiness and confidence thinking that maybe, just maybe, you might have a shot with the girl of your dreams when all of a sudden BANG! BOOM! POW! BLAM! It's all freakin' obliterated when you're told that the girl in question not only doesn't see you in that way but is, in fact, so humiliated to be seen with you 'that way' that she can't even bear to come to school for a whole day! Now, I don't know with you 'that way' that she can't even bear to come to school for a whole day! Now, I don't know you've ever felt anything like this before, Monique, but let me be the first to tell you that it ain't no walk in the flower garden!

By the time Ron had finished his rant he was sweating profusely and taking giant, heaving breaths.

Monique stared at her friend with a great deal of concern. _No wonder he's been acting weird. The poor boy's had his self esteem ran through a combine!_

"Ron" she began calmly 'I don't know where this ridiculous idea came from that Kim is embarrassed to be seen with you, but I'll be the first to tell you that it's a load of crap."

Ron scoffed again. "Yeah? And what makes you so sure?"

Monique narrowed her gaze at the young man. She _so _didn't like to be challenged.

"Because I know Kim and I know how she feels about you. And I can tell you that you are _waaaaay_ off the mark there, bud."

Ron stared at his friend with wide eyes. Was Monique really saying what he thought she was?

"Are – are you saying that Kim…"

"I'm not saying anything" she interrupted "but I can tell you that whoever you've been talking too doesn't know the first thing about you _or _Kim." She paused before asking: "Just who _did _tell you all of these things, Ron?"

Ron suddenly grew very red. He knew Monique would not enjoy his answer.

"Um…well…"

Monique slapped her forehead, suddenly understanding. "Oh don't tell me….Bonnie!?"

"Nobody's perfect," he said shrugging.

"Ugh, Ron" she said, exasperated, "you _know _that that girl is 90% pure evil and 10 % things currently unknown. How could you let her get to you like that?"

Ron puttered in defense: 'I…she…I didn't…she was…I…I…I" He sighed, consenting to defeat, "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"Well, I wouldn't go _that _far, but you're definitely in the ballapark."

Ron hung his head. He knew his friend was right. He had let Bonnie play him like a violin and cut his strings…and worst of all he had made Kim pay the price for it. Just what kind of friend was he, anyway?

"Oh man, Monique" he said, putting his head in his hands, "I really screwed things up, didn't I?"

Monique smiled at him and put an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "Well I wouldn't call this your shining moment" she said, "but I bet this can all be fixed."

Ron stared up at her. "You think?"

She nodded. "If Kim cares about you as much as I think she does, she'll understand."

Ron smiled. It was times like these when it was hard to believe that he had once been threatened by this young girl's friendship with Kim. It was ironic now that she had been the one to save it.

"You're right, Monique." He said, standing straight, a new look of determination in his eye. "I need to talk to her." Suddenly his face fell. "That is, as soon as I figure out where she is."

Monique came up behind him and said: "Well I'm no genius…but I think the blinking light from Kim's locker might point you in the right direction."

Ron turned to the direction she was pointing, and saw that, sure enough, Kim's locker was blinking blue and a familiar session of beeps was emitting from it.

"Wade!" Ron cried, as he ran to open the door. The second he flung the door open the of the young tech wizard on the TV screen started speaking:

"Ron!" he exclaimed, a look of alarm on his face. "I've been trying to get a hold of you all day! I've been constantly trying to get in contact with Kim, but she won't answer!"

Ron was instantly concerned. The only time Kim _didn't _answer her Kimmunicator was when something had gone seriously wrong.

"Where is she?"

"I'm sending you the coordinates now" he said, pushing a button. As soon as he did so, a piece of paper was distributed to him from the console below the TV screen.

"Thanks, Wade" he said, proceeding to shut the door.

"Wait!" Wade called out, before he could be silenced. "Ron, before I sent Kim on her mission she seemed pretty upset…any idea what happened?"

Ron felt a guilty look creep up on his face. He couldn't imagine all the pain he had put Kim through that day. But he swore, right at that moment, that he was going to make it up to her.

"There's no time now, Wade" he said, "I'll have to tell you about it some other time."

And with that he slammed the door of the locker, before Wade had a chance to say another word.

**VI**

Wade Load stared at the empty computer screen with his mouth agape. That was the _second _time today he had been denied an explanation.

_Man, if this is what growing up is like… _he thought to himself_ …then I hope I _never _hit puberty._

**VII**

Ron turned to look at Monique, his concern clearly etched on his face.

"Kim's in trouble."

Monique looked at him with a mixture of shock and resolve.

"Well, then what are you waiting for, Romeo?" she asked, "Sounds to me like Juliet needs your help."

Ron smiled. "Right" he said as he turned around and headed for the door. When he got halfway down the hall, however, he turned around to face his friend.

"Hey, Monique?" he called.

She waved him off with her hand. "Don't mention it, Casanova" she said "Now get a move on!"

Ron nodded, and ran out the door.

The young woman smiled to herself as she watched him go.

_If I don't get to be a bridesmaid after this some heads are gonna roll!_

She giggled to herself as she turned around and walked off to her next class.

**VIII**

Kim Possible landed on the ground (as always) with the grace and balance of a swan. As she was unlatching her cute she took in the view of the large edifice she was currently in front of.

_These guys need _my _help?_

The building she was looking at was definitely one that government was not interested in showing the public. It was perfectly square; the color of concrete, and it had no windows…just a giant steel door in the shape of a doughnut right at its center.

Not exactly what you would call homey.

Right when Kim had finished detaching herself from her chute, the giant, circular door made a deafening creaking sound as it rolled to one side revealing an opening. As soon as the dust had cleared, Kim could make out the figure of a man coming her way.

She could tell this guy wasn't the type of guy that messed around. He looked to be in his late fifties, with stark white hair styled in the strictest military haircut she had ever seen. He was dressed in full military regalia, complete with about three or four medals displayed on his chest. As soon as he saw Kim he raised his right hand and gave her and old-fashioned military salute.

"Afternoon, Ms. Possible" he said, lowering his hand, "My name is General David Gedden, and on behalf of the United States Armed Forces I would like to welcome you to this base."

Kim smiled. "Thank you, General Gedden" she said, "I understand this base is in need of my services?"

He nodded curtly at her. "Indeed. Follow me, and I'll explain everything."

General Gedden turned on his heel with the precision of an experienced military officer and headed through the giant door, Kim following in his haste.

**IX**

The thief hadn't moved a muscle in over two hours. His body was starting to severely cramp up.

Yet, he still would not move. Not until he got the say so.

Then, suddenly, like a gift from God, the commlink that his master had provided him with began to ring.

The thief answered.

'She's here." A voice said to him from the other line, "You know what to do."

The commlink turned off.

As if some binding spell had been lifted from him, the thief immediately sprang into motion, carrying out the task he had been sent here to do.

His master had given him orders.

And he would _not _disappoint.

**To Be Continued**

There you are folks, the sixth installment of _The Things I Never Knew _for your viewing pleasure.

For those of you who are looking forward to the action of the story, I can tell you that it is coming up _very _shortly. The same goes to the people who are looking forward to the Kim/Ronmance part.

However for those of you who are looking for any such pairings such as Ron/Bon, Kigo, or any other whacky combination you can come up with I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place. I plan on keeping this fic as "down to earth" as possible.

On another note, you all know the drill…Read and Review!

Thanks,

Everhere Everthere

.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Kim Possible me no owny. Please no sue.

**Chapter 7**

**I**

General David Gedden walked swiftly down the corridor in such a hurried pace that Kim had a hard time keeping up with him.

He was moving so fast that Kim was barely able to take in all of her surroundings as she usually did when she visited a brand new military base. This one was much like all the others, however. Gray, non-descript walls, the occasional machine feeding out encrypted print-outs, a coffee pot every three feet, it was all the same old song and dance for Kim.

The only thing that was different was that her host, General Gedden, was extremely quiet. Usually, when she was being taken in through a lab she was either being briefed for a mission or hearing about what a honor it was to have her there…one of the two. But General Gedden hadn't said a word since they had entered the giant circular door.

_I wonder what his problem his? Maybe he's not allowed to tell me anything? Maybe he doesn't rank high enough? _ _No that's stupid, he's a General. So why isn't he talking._

The answer came to Kim just as suddenly as the question had.

_Is he _embarrassed _to have had to call me? I can't imagine a top dog military official like him was completely thrilled to have to call in a high-school girl to clean up his mess. _Kim giggled at the thought.

"Something funny, Ms. Possible?" Gedden asked, without looking back.

Embarrassed, Kim tried to think of a cover story: "Um…no…just remembering something funny that happened at school today."

As if school that had been anywhere even _resembling _funny.

"Good. Because we've reached our destination and I would hate for these kind scientists to think you weren't prepared to give one-hundred percent of your efforts."

A retort hovered on Kim's tongue but she held it still. _Priorities, Possible_. _You're here to help not hinder._

Kim looked at where General Gedden had placed himself and fell instantly confused. It looked to her, that he had stopped in front of a solid, gray wall. One with no door in sight.

"General Gedden?" she asked. "How are we supposed…?"

The general answered her question before she could even finish it. He placed his palm on an area on the wall and it was immediately bathed in blue light. The light began scanning General Gedden's handprint starting from the tips of fingers to the base of his wrist. Once this was accomplished the wall appeared to open up like a pair of sliding doors had been there the whole time.

Kim couldn't help but be impressed.

General Gedden turned to face her: "Ms. Possible" he said "Welcome to the Rutherford Hayes Research Center. We all hope you enjoy your stay."

**II**

Ron Stoppable and Rufus sat quietly in the back of the airplane as it zoomed on toward their destination. Rufus was busy staring out the window (the whole being up a thousand feet in the air thing always seemed to fascinate Rufus) and Ron was busy mulling over his thoughts.

_Ok, so hopefully if I get there in time to help and I _don't _screw anything up Kim night be in a good enough mood to forgive me. It's either_ that…_or I arrive to late, make a mess of everything and the bad guy gets away on my account. _Ron put his head in his hands. _Yeah…that sounds like me._

Ron was too busy racking his brain like it was a set of billiard balls that he didn't notice the pilot had been studying him for quite some time now.

"_Pardonnez moi, mon ami" _he spoke in a thick Cajun accent. "But you no look so good. You had a hard day, neh?"

Ron, startled, looked up at the person who had spoken to him.

"What?...Oh, yeah I guess you can say that."

"Why don' you let me guess" he said, chuckling. "I am guessing that your problem has to do with something long, slender, and shaped like an hourglass, neh?"

Ron raised his eyebrows in surprise. _Got it in one. _

"Yeah" he said, "It seems like that's all that ever on my mind nowadays."

The pilot laughed a big, hearty laugh.

"Oh, you speak the truth, _mon frère, _you speak the truth." He wiped his eyes for a moment, and then continued. "So tell Ol' Remy, what seems to be getting you down?"

Ron waved his hand. "It's a long story" he said. "Not to mention a little bit on the unbelievable side."

The pilot shrugged. "We've got a _loooong _trip ahead of us, _mon ami, _might as well have a lil' story to pass the time, neh?"

Ron contemplated it for a moment.

"Way I see it…It's either that…" the pilot said "or you tell me how you're little _raton _learned to take apart my heat generator."

Ron looked over to where Rufus was a moment ago and, sure enough, he was surrounded by the parts of a dismantled heat generator around his feet.

Ron chuckled. _I guess this guy can hear a little bit about my problems after all…_he looked back at the little mole rat who was now assembling the pieces of the engine into what looked like a miniature Model T _…some stories are just easier to tell._

So Ron dove headfirst into the tale about the previous day. He went on about the modulator, the, the kissing, the Bonnie, he left no stone unturned. By the time he was finished he was panting and, for some reason, had a strong urge for something fricasseed.

The Pilot stared at Ron in disbelief.

_Just as I figured…he doesn't believe a word I said._

Then much to Ron's surprise the pilot through his head back and erupted into laughter that seemed to shake the whole airplane.

_Dear God, _Ron screamed in his head _My plane is being driven by the leader of the Louisiana branch of Al-Qaeda!_

The pilot eventually stopped laughing and wiped his eyes.

"Oh my" he said 'I haven' laughed that hard since that crocodile almost bit my cousin Pierre's leg off!" He chuckled a little bit to himself again before turning to Ron. "Let me tell you something, _mon frère, _You need to go find your little _chere _and tell her how you feel. That the only way you can both get what you want."

"Yeah, it's easy for you to say that…but how could you possibly know how thos whole thing will turn out."

The pilot turned around so he was facing Ron and winked at him.

"Ol' Remy, just know these things, little crawfish" he said. 'Ol' Remy just know.

**III**

Kim looked around the gigantic, technological marvel of a room she was now standing in.

_If my dad saw this room he would probably wet himself._

She was surrounded on all fours by the blinking lights of thousands of machines. Some of them were the size of a vending machine and some of them were no bigger than a coffeepot. It looked to Kim as if one of those giant robots on the old shows her dad watched had thrown up and someone decided to make a room out of it.

"Ms. Possible" the voice of General Gedden boomed at her, ripping her from her reverie. "This is the man who requested we call you in." He motioned to a man on his right. The man was dressed in a lab coat and had long, straight brown hair all tied in a ponytail. "His name is Dr. Greg Herschel, and he seems to think that a matter of national security should be left to someone who doesn't even have a high school diploma."

Dr. Herschel rolled his eyes. "Ignore him" the doctor said, shaking her hand. "The General is very reluctant to believe that you have the expertise to help us out of this little "fiasco" we at the Rutherford Hayes center find ourselves in."

Kim let go of his hand and said: "I have to say, I'm pretty curious myself, Dr. Herschel, it seems like you all have everything here pretty well under control. What do you need _my _help with?"

Dr. Herschel chuckled. "A curious one. I like that. One of the basic, unwritten fables of science is a curious mind is the key to untold wisdom."

"A more common phrase is 'Curiosity killed the cat'" said General Gedden's voice from across the room.

Dr. Herschel rolled his eyes again and focused on Kim. 'The reason we called you here is that out communications sector received a very ominous video this morning threatening to steal the blueprints for a new line of advanced cybernetics we've been working on. We think you may have dealt with the videos senders before."

Kim nodded. "There's a good chance of that. I think I've tangled with every baddie interested in cybernetics there is. They're usually the type to send spoiler alert videos too."

Dr. Herschel chuckled. "I have complete faith in you then. He turned to a technician in the back of the room.

"Roll the footage!" he called.

The young technician nodded. He turned to the console in front of him and pressed a large button. Instantly, the screen above him broadcasted the image of the shaded outline of a man.

'Good morning" the shadow spoke in a thick, baritone, English accent, "Consider this a fair warning on our part, my associates and myself will be "relocating" the blueprints for your Accelerated Cybertronic computer ships to a buyer in the United Kingdom later this afternoon."

Kim was baffled. She had never heard this man, or anyone like him, before in her life.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Herschel" she said, frowning, "but I don't think I can help you…I have no idea who this guy is…"

Another voice on the tape interrupted her.

"Hey, why does the _consultant_ get to make the video?" it said, "this is _my _world domination scheme; _I _should be the one making the ominous video!"

Another voice, this one female, spoke next:

"Right, and I'm sure you're a regular Dan Rather, doc. Maybe we should let the professional handle this one, huh?"

"Professional? What do you think _I _am? I've been evil since before this guy was born!"

The shaded sighed before zooming in the camera closer to him:

"As you can see, we have able bodied thieves at our disposal. You really don't stand a chance. Oh, but don't worry…we'll treat the cybernetics plans as if though they were our own!"

The shaded man hit a button on his console and the screen went blank.

Dr. Herschel turned to Kim.

"You were saying?"

Kim giggled. "Ok, I think I can be of assistance. I have no idea who the other guy is, but the two arguing like a married couple in the background are Dr. Drakken and Shego. Don't worry…they're a piece of cake."

Dr. Herschel smiled. "Oh I imagine so. After reading your website I saw several bits of information about these two…we ran a voice check from one of your videos to the video we received and a perfect match. It only took a matter of moments to move the cybernetics plans to a more secure location and replaced them with a little "surprise" for any intruders who enter the room without proper guidance." Dr. Herschel laughed, "With any luck, we'll have the two of them plus their new friend on the way to Sing-Sing by suppertime."

Kim laughed along with the scientist. She could imagine the looks of Drakken and Shego as they snuck into the lab with thoughts of thievery only to find that the place they were robbing was one step ahead of them.

An unsettling thought suddenly crossed Kim's mind.

"Dr. Herschel" she asked, "I don't mean to be nosy, but it seems to me like you have everything under control here. I really don't understand why I'm needed here."

"Join the club."

Dr. Herschel sighed. "For God's sakes, Dave, the girl's saved the world more than any of us put together. The least you could do is show her a little respect."

General Gedden scoffed. "The only thing she _needs _to be shown is the door." He got up from the chair he was sitting in and headed for a door in the back of the room. 'I'd hate to break up this little slumber party you all have going on, but I have to make a phone call" he said, his back to everyone. Then, as if it were a side note, he called out. "Try not to tell the teenager who shot JFK while I'm out."

And with that, General Gedden headed out the door.

Kim watched him go with a look of contempt on her face. _I've never seen anyone as rude as him in my life!_

Dr. Herschel must have sensed how Kim was feeling because he said: "Oh, please, don't take anything he says personally" he said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "belive it or not, he's not usually this hostile. Personally, I think he's been having troubles with his home life. I've noticed he's made a bed for himself in his office. I think he sleeps here most nights."

Kim felt a small wave of pity for the General. _Poor man, he must be so lonely. _However, it quickly passed. _Well, it doesn't give him the right to be a jerk._

Dr. Herschel spoke again, ripping her from her thoughts. "To answer your question to why I called you here" he began, "it was simply to get your insight on Dr. Drakken. Since you and he have tangled so many times in the past we wanted to ask you…Is he usually this stupid?"

Kim was a bit shocked by the question. "I – I don't really know what you mean."

Chuckling, Dr. Herschel explained: "Well I haven't dealt with super villains before…but it seems kind of…ignorant, to call ahead of time and tell you about a planned robbery. He practically _gave _us every opportunity to stop him."

Kim paused. It _did _seem very unintelligent to call ahead and warn the people you were going to rob that you planned to rob them. Hell, it was borderline suicide! Still…this was Drakken they were talking about, and he was never exactly a super genius when it came to world domination.

Kim smiled. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, Dr. Herschel."

Dr. Herschel laughed. "Just what I wanted to hear!" He turned on his heel and sat in his chair.

"Nothing to do now but sit here and play the waiting game."

**IV**

The thief slowly climbed out of the air duct that he had used to enter the Cybernetics Room.

It had been utterly simple to get past the guards that were surrounding the room. If he had actually wanted to steal the Cybernetics technology, it would have been all too easy.

He looked down at the floor of the room. The tripwire that had been set up to trap him was in plain view. It would be child's to completely bypass it entirely and not set off a single alarm.

If…that had been his intention.

Calmly, and without hesitation, he dropped to the floor and set off the alarm system.

**V**

The ringing that coursed through the room that Kim was in was deafening.

"Well" Dr. Herschel said, covering his ears. "It looks like the eagle has landed, so to speak."

Kim looked towards all the staff that was standing idle. "Shouldn't you be making an attempt to go and catch them, or something?"

Dr. Herschel smiled sheepishly. "Well, we were kind of hoping that since you're already here here…"

Kim rolled her eyes. _Of course. It's _always _my mess to clean up._

"I'll be right back." She said running towards the door.

"We appreciate it!" he called, as he took out his phone and began to dial. "I'll call the director and tell him everything's OK on our end!"

_Yeah, you do that, _Kim thought as she raced to the source of all the commotion. _I'll be over here taking care of all the hard stuff._

She sighed. It looked as though it would take her a lot longer to get home to Ron than she had previously hoped.

**VI**

Derout's cell phone when off his pocket.

_Right on time._

"Yes?" he asked, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

"The alarms have been tripped" a voice answered him, "She's heading to the Cybernetics Room now."

Derout smiled. _Excellent. _

"And the room?"

"Unlocked and unguarded. You should have no trouble."

Derout's smile grew even bigger. "Good. I trust you know what to from here?"

The voice on the other end chuckled. "You're instructions were perfectly clear. I'll have them both practically gift wrapped for you."

"Excellent. We'll collect all of you as soon as we've acquired some 'transportation'"

"Understood." The voice said, "Over and out."

The phone went dead.

Derout hung up the phone with satisfaction. _It really pays off to have someone on the inside._

Derout's smile was positively immense now as he turned to the green woman behind him.

"The alarms have been activated…it's time for you to make your move."

Shego smiled mischievously. "You got it. Back in a jiff." Shego immediately turned on her heel and ran out the door.

Derout turned to the man next to him.

"Well, Dr. Drakken" he said, "It's not much time now until your dream is realized."

Drakken smiled.

"I have to say, Mr. Derout" Drakken said as he put his arm around his consultant, "I had my doubts about you at first, but you've really pulled through."

Derout smiled. "I'm glad I've been able to assist you, Doctor."

Drakken pulled Derout even closer into a one-armed hug.

"After all the good work you've done, I think you might deserve a reward." He said, "How does the Supreme Ruler of Iceland sound to you?"

Derout laughed. "Throw in parts of Cuba and you have yourself a deal."

Dr. Drakken laughed and released his consultant. "You dream big Derout, I like that about you."

Derout laughed as he watched him walk away.

_Oh I dream bigger than you could ever know, Dr. Dumbass. _He thought.

_Much Bigger._

**VII**

Kim raced down the hallway until she had come to the door she was looking for.

**CYBERNETICS RESEARCH FACILITY**

_This must be the place._

Mustering up the strength she would need for the ensuing fight with Shego that was sure to come, she opened the door with such a force that it made an echo as it slammed against the wall.

"All right, Drakken" she said, authority in her voice obvious, "I have some issues wating for me back in Mkiddleton so if we could just hurry this thing up…."

She stopped in mid sentence. Too shocked to finish.

The person she was staring at wasn't Dr. Drakken…

…and it wasn't Shego either.

**VIII**

Shego walked up to the door with her head held high.

_This had got to be the easiest job ever._

She tried the door. It was unlocked, just as Derout had said it would be.

_I gotta hand it to the guy, _she thought, _he knows what he's doing._

Once Shego entered the room, she immediately saw her target.

It was hard to miss the giant aircraft that took up most of the room.

She walked up to the massive flying machine and tried the door. It, too, was unlocked.

_Unbelievable. This guy thinks of everything._

She entered the machine and walked over to the operating controls. There were more buttons sitting before her now than she had ever seen in her life. Luckily for her, she didn't have to worry about that.

Shego reached into her leg pouch and pulled out a small device that Derout had given her. The, following instructions, she placed the little device under the console so that it stuck there like a refrigerator magnet.

All she had to do now was wait.

Almost immediately the little device she had placed under the console had beeped to life. Immediately following that, the entire ship seemed to wake up from a deep sleep. All at once everything from the seat belts to the coffee machine was now fully operational.

Shego smiled to herself. No doubt by now Derout had tapped in to the ships controls and would soon be controlling it from miles away.

Suddenly, affirming her suspicions, the ship began to slowly rise from the ground.

_Like I said, _Shego thought to herself, _Easiest job ever._

**IX**

Kim was staring directly at Dr. Cyrus Bortel.

She was so shocked she couldn't even move. _What is _he _doing here? Since does Dr. Bortel bat for the dark side._

Surprisingly, Dr. Bortel made no move to capture her. In fact, he acted as though he didn't see her at all.

Kim got over her shock and lowered herself into attack position. _Nothing may be making sense right now _she thought _but I still have a job to do._

However, Dr. Bortel still made no move whatsoever. It was like he was a statue…or a zombie.

It was then that Kim moved her eyes upward to the blinking dot on Dr. Bortel's forehead.

_The Neural Compliance Chip!_

Kim ran over to the immobile scientist. He made no move that he even noticed her. When she got there she reached and forcibly removed the chip from his forehead.

Immediately, the scientists face turned from an expression of total indifference…to one of deep alarm.

"Ms. Possible!" he cried, terror in his voice. "Run! It's a trap!"

Kim barely had any time to react before something blunt slammed into the back of her head.

As she fell, consciousness slowly drifting away from her, she could just make out the image of a figure walking in Dr. Bortel's direction, weapon raised.

And then…everything went black.

**X**

The plane hovered over the drop zone like a vulture hovers over its prey, as Ron Stoppable and Rufus prepared to make their jump.

Just before he made the leap however he turned to kind pilot who had flown him here.

"Thanks for the ride, dude." He said, smiling.

The pilot laughed. "Don' worry about it, _mon ami, _Ol' Remy was glad to help."

Ron smiled again at the pilot before turning his attention to his jump partner.

"You ready, buddy?" he asked nervously.

The little naked mole rat looked up at his owner with a mixture of fear and excitement.

"Ready" he squeaked.

Ron gulped. _I was afraid he's say that. _

"Well little buddy" he said "here goes everything."

And with that Ron Stoppable jumped from the plane.

As he was free falling at an alarming speed, the wind rushing at his face he could only think of one thing to keep his mind of his fear of heights:

_Here I come, Kim _he thought…

…_I just hope I'm not too late._

**To Be Continued**

Well here it is everyone, installment number seven. Hope you like it. Read and Review please.

Everhere Everthere


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights of Kim Possible in any way, shape, or form. Lawyers of the world keep that in mind.

**Chapter 8**

The world came to the eyes of Kim Possible in a blurry, dizzied fashion. A soon as she could see properly, she was instantly aware of two things: 1) Her head hurt like hell and 2) wherever she was right now, it was definitely somewhere she didn't want to be.

The young teen hero gently rose into a sitting position and took in her surroundings. She appeared to be in a holding facility of some sort. She was surrounded on all sides by three, sold white, walls and the wall directly in front of her was transparent glass. Yet, all she could see through it was complete blackness. It reminded Kim of those old interrogation rooms she had seen on old cop shows.

_Dad always said if I was ever in one of these rooms, he'd disown me._

A sound from behind her startled her. She whirled around.

There, lying in the corner and in no better shape than she was, sat Dr. Bortel. He was a mess. His coat was ruffled, his pants were ripped, and he had an ugly purple bruise on right above his eye.

"Ah, Ms. Possible" he said, making an attempt to smile, "You don't look so good."

Kim laughed. "I could say the same for you." She looked through the glass wall again, still seeing nothing. "Where are we exactly?"

Dr. Bortel sighed, "I only wish I knew. I was knocked out only moments after you were. I have no more idea where we are than you do, I'm afraid."

At these words, everything that had happened to her in past twenty-four hours came rushing back to her in an instant.

"Dr. Bortel!" she exclaimed, "You had a Neural Compliance Chip on your forehead. You were being forced to steal the research labs Cybernetic technology!"

The scientist sighed and shook his head. "No, my dear girl, I was not. That it is only what you were led to believe."

Confused, Kim asked: "But if they weren't after the Cybernetics…then what _are _they after?"

"Yes, well that" said an eerie voice from behind her, "is the million dollar question, now isn't it?"

Kim whirled around just as the lights in the other room went on. Through the glass wall a whole new world of images were opened to Kim's eyes. The room in front of her looked like the control room from the ship off of _Space Passage, _complete with chairs, computers, blinking machines, and a vast window at the front. A window that was, much to Kim's astonishment, overlooking the landscape of Washington D.C.

A landscape that was getting smaller by the minute.

_Oh my God. We're _flying!

However, the things in the room that caught Kim's attention the most were the three people standing in front of her. The two in the back she recognized instantly. She would recognize the odd skin tones and smug looking faces anywhere. The person in the front, however, was totally new to Kim. He was dressed much like a man going in for a day at the office would dress: blue jacket, white shirt, blue tie, blue pants, and a gold pocket watch hanging out his left pocket.

The stranger ran a hand through his coarse black hair that was stylishly slicked back, and smiled.

"Hello, there Ms. Possible" he said in a voice that made her skin crawl, "Please…make yourselfat home.

**II**

The instant General David Gedden walked back into the main control room of the Rutherford Hayes Research Center he was aware that something was wrong.

All of the techies and grunts and grunts had the same expression of horror mixed with a little anxiety on their faces. Each one of them was all looking at the other, which was a sure sign that something horrible had happened and none of them wanted to be the bearer of bad news.

It wasn't surprising. Gedden's "military man" attitude often scared the ever loving crap out of people, which was _exactly, _how he wanted it. The only problem was that in situations like this, no one had the balls to tell you what you needed to hear straight to your face.

It looked as if though Gedden would have to "volunteer" one of them.

"McClinksy!" He barked at a nervous looking computer tech sitting on his right. "Status report! Asap!"

McClinsky, a small mousy man of about thirty, slowly got up from his chair. He was shaking so much that it looked as if though the clipboard he was holding would fall out of his hands at any second. Slowly, and with much nervous stuttering, McClinksy began to speak.

"Um…Si-sir we s-seem to have a…ah…situation."

"No shit, McClinksy." Gedden retorted, his eyes narrowing. "I can tell that by the way you kids are all crapping your pants in unison."

McClinksy, along with everyone else, winced a little.

"Well? What are you waiting for, McClinksy, the evening time slot for Project Runway? Tell me what's going on or you'll be running the robots in Chuck E. Cheese by Monday!"

McClinksy, clearly reaching his breaking point, blurted everything out in short panicky breaths.

"Sir, the Cybernetics theft was a hoax!" he cried, "Both Kim Possible and Dr. Herschel are missing…and so is Project Pegasus!"

General Gedden's face suddenly turned the exact same shade of pale as McClinksy's

_Dear God, not Project Pegasus, Please Dear, Sweet, baby Jesus, not Project Pegasus!_

But he knew there was no point in denying it. It all made sense. The warning about the Cybernetics theft wasn't a warning…

…it was a distraction.

While they were foolishly guarding an empty room some crack pot thieves had just made off with the single most dangerous weapon in the world.

General Gedden felt he might faint.

But he knew he couldn't show any kind of weakness, not even for a second. Currently, he was the pillar that was supporting this scared, little group of techies and kids. If he fell, they all fall.

Composing himself, General Gedden started to speak: "Gentleman, we've been played" he said, in the best authoritative tone he could muster, "this is now a matter of national security. Consider yourselves all on overtime."

**III**

Unlike his best friend, Ron Stoppable landed his parachute jump with about as much grace as a blind camel wrapped in a trash bag.

As soon as the poor boy had gotten himself untangled (a process that had been filled with much cursing and bruising) he stared at the building he was now facing.

Ron could only stare…and give a low, lasting, whistle.

_Wow. The term" sweet digs" doesn't even _begin _to describe this place. They even have a big, circley door!_

Ron walked over to the giant, two-dimensional sphere and pondered how he was going to get it open.

He turned to his faithful, hairless companion on his shoulder.

"I don't know, buddy" he said "usually when we're with Kim the guy's we're helping come out to meet us."

His heart panged slightly when he thought of her name. Even through the entire plane ride and the resulting free fall he still felt awful about how he had treated her, and he prayed she was still ok so he could make it right.

"You got any ideas on how to open a giant, doughnut-shaped, door Rufus?"

The little mole rat shrugged and squeaked a clueless response.

Ron sighed. _Looks like we're doing this old school._

Ron and Rufus walked over to the door.

_Man this thing is _huge! _I never thought I would live to see the day I was intimidated by a _door!

Nevertheless, Ron raised his fist next to the goliath of a door and rapped on it.

_Here we go_

**IV**

Kim stared at the man in front of her who now wore a smile so big it practically ate up his face.

"I must say, I'm a bit disappointed," he said, looking her over, "after all the things I've heard about you, I was expecting someone a little more impressive."

She could see Shego smirking behind him.

"Sorry to disappoint" Kim said, glaring at him, "I don't normally aim to impress the unnamed lunatics that knock me out and put in a huge fish tank."

The man laughed. "Of course! How rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Adrian Derout. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ms. Possible."

"Oh, the pleasures mine" she said sarcastically, "It's always nice to be on first names basis of the people I'm going to put in jail."

Derout turned around to the people behind him.

"Is she always this feisty?" he asked.

Drakken's gaze narrowed. "You don't know the half of it."

The man turned his gaze back to her. "Well now, I don't suppose I have to introduce to the two individuals behind me, do I? They tell me you've had plenty of run-ins together."

Kim nodded. "Uh huh. And they all end, pretty much the same way…but I'll let you ask them about that."

Shego took a step forward. "That's a whole lot of talk coming from the girl in the Easy Bake oven."

"People always tell me I'm one tough cookie."

Shego hands suddenly lit up with glowing, green energy as she prepared to pounce, only to be stopped by Derout's raised hand.

"No need for that." He told her, a tone of finality in his voice. He then turned his attention back to Kim. "Yes, I am quite aware of how you constantly foil Dr. Drakken's plots…"

Dr. Drakken, stepped in front of him, interrupting. "But all those failures are a thing of the past, Kim Possible!" He said, his fist raised, "But now I, Dr. Drakken, have you as my captive, leaving no one left to stop me from taking my rightful place as Supreme Ruler of…"

A loud cough from Derout silenced Drakken's rant.

"Urghhh, even the _consultants _are interrupting me now?" He turned to face Derout. "What is it?"

Derout smiled. "I'd hate to break this to you, Doctor, but now that Project Pegasus is under my control, you're services are no longer needed."

Drakken stared at him, confused. "My…My services?"

"Yes" Derout confirmed "You're services. I needed all the muascle power I could get in order to obtain Project Pegasus, and you are currently the only mad scientist in the field with a super powered mercenary at your disposal. However, now that I have acquired what I needed, I have no more use for either of you."

Drakken stared at Derout with a look like he had just been punched in the gut.

"I…I don't understand."

A bolt green energy flew right passed the two men, making an explosion to their right.

"What the c_onsultant _is trying to say…" Shego said, a mask of anger on her face, "…is that he is the process of stabbing us in the back."

Derout chuckled. "Oh Shego…I'm going to miss you're blunt personality, and your fiery temper the most, I think."

Shego lowered herself into a fighting stance: "Not as much as you're going to miss your face."

Then Shego lunged at him, claws bared.

Surprisingly, Derout made no attempt to get out of the raging woman's way.

Kim watched with baited breath as Shego flew toward Derout. Having experienced Shego's claw powers first hand, she did not envy the beat down Derout was in for. She braced herself for the impact…

…and when it came, the result was absolutely unexpected. Instead of Derout having the living crap kicked out of him, Shego was instead, surrounded in an aura of electricity, and flung to the complete other side of the room, landing in a motionless heap.

Kim did a double take.

Derout was now surrounded in a greenish glowing orb, that seemed to glow with electricity. The smug look was more prominent than ever as looked over in Kim's direction.

"You like" he asked, displaying his shield like a evening gown, "I call them "Defense Bubbles." They're one hundred percent guaranteed to shield you from absolutely anything."

Derout turned his attention to the still dumbfounded, evil genius.

"Now Dr. Drakken. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Drakken stared at the man in the bubble, a look of betrayal on his face.

"The entire time…you were planning on betraying me?"

Derout laughed. "Oh don't act so surprised, Dr. Drakken" he said "I needed the most pathetic, most idiotic, most desperate wannabe world conqueror imaginable, and you fit the bill perfectly."

Drakken could only stare, open-mouthed, apparently too shocked to speak.

Derout smiled again, looking over Drakkens shoulder. "Oh good, my hired help has arrived."

Drakken looked as if he was about to turn and retaliate but a force from behind quickly silenced him. It looked to Kim like he had been stunned. Her suspicions were confirmed when Drakkens limp body dropped to the floor, revealing a figure holding a stun gun in his right hand.

Kim reeled backward in shock when she realized who the figure holding the stun gun really was.

"Dr. Herschel!?" she exclaimed, in shock.

Dr. Herschel stood there, with two robotic henchmen behind him, smiling a wicked smile at her.

"Hey Kim, long time, no see."

Derout looked from Herschel to Kim with a look of satisfaction. "Oh good, you already know each other, that'll save me the chore of introductions." He motioned to the two unconscious figures on the floor. "Have your men put these two in the holding cell" He ordered.

Herschel nodded and produced a remote control from his coat pocket and pressed a button on it. Immediately the two robots behind him sprung to life and, in what seemed like no time at all, picked up the two figures and placed them in the holding cell, along with Kim and Dr. Bortel.

Dr. Herschel smiled at Kim through the glass. "You remember that cybernetics project I called you about?" he pointed at the two robots, "Turns out I had them with me the whole time."

Kim was too shocked to say anything.

Derout smiled and started walking towards the door. "If you'll excuse us" he said, motioning for Herschel to follow him, "Dr. Herschel and I have to make a phone call."

And with that, both men walked out the door.

**V**

General David Gedden had a lot on his plate.

On the one hand he was a dealing with a national crisis, Project Pegasus was stolen, Greg Herschel and the cheerleader were missing, he had an entire lab of techies and grunts…

…and now some idiot was knocking on the door.

_Who the hell knocks on a giant, metal circle anyway? _General Gedden thought as he marched over to the giant two-dimensional that was there doorway; _I thought this was supposed to intimidate people into _not _doing things like that._

Gedden flipped a switch on the wall and watched as the door rolled to the right…and when it revealed the teenaged, tow-headed boy standing out there it took almost all of his self control not to shut it again.

_Oh for the love of…_

"This is private military property, son" General Gedden barked at the young intruder. "I suggest you take your spoiled, Gen Y, fanny elsewhere before you get violated for trespassing."

The young boy just stared at him quizzically.

"Um, hey dude, sorry to bother you…" the boy began, speaking with an air of almost confident confusion (if that was even possible), "I'm Kim Possible's sidekick…I'm a little late for the rodeo."

Gedden slapped his hand to his forehead.

_She has a _sidekick, _too? What's the world come too?_

"All right, son" Gedden said , making way so the youth could enter, "I'm probably going to regret this but follow me."

The young boy smiled at Gedden.

"Coolio." He patted his pocket "Hey Rufus, we made it through the big scary door!"

Then, much to Gedden's surprise and disgust, a hairless, little, pink rat poked its head out of his pocket.

"Yeah! Go team!" the little creature squeaked.

Gedden forced himself not to think any more about it.

"Follow me, son."

Gedden led the young boy down the immense hallway into the main control room.

"All right, son, now listen up" Gedden said, using his "military voice" to its full potential, "The Rutherford Hayes Research Center has experienced a theft in…"

"Um dude, if it's all right with you, I'd rather have Kim fill me in" the boy said, putting his hands in his pockets, "she's usually better at translating big, self-important military speeches to me."

Gedden gritted his teeth.

_I am never, EVER, having children._

"Well son, that's sort of the problem" Gedden said, forcing himself to remain calm, "I'm afraid Ms. Possible has gone MIA."

The boy gasped, a look of horror crossing his face.

"She's with pirates with skulls and bones!?"

Gedden could only stare.

_Never. Ever._

"We're not sure where she's at exactly. She's gone missing. It is our understanding that that blue fellow you and Ms. Possible have had several run – ins with is the culprit.

The boy's face narrowed. "Drakken."

"Exactly. What this Drakken character has done has now put this country in a heightened state of alert."

The kid cringed. "That sounds really bad."

"As it should. The item he stole is code named 'Project Pegasus' and, in the wrong hands, it could cause devastation on catastrophic proportions."

"See, that's one thing I never understood about you 'Secret Military Base Types'" the boy said "you always build these machines that can cause 'global devastation' or 'bring about the next Ice Age' and yet they always manage to get stolen by some megalomaniac."

Gedden shrugged.

"Welcome to the USA, kid."

And with that, Gedden led the young boy into the main control room.

**VI**

Derout straightened his tie, and checked his hair.

He had to look good for the camera.

"Everything ready on your end, Dr. Herschel?"

The scientist grunted a few times for answering: "All set. We go live in Ten…Nine.."

The excitement in Derout's chest began to mount like the rising of a temple.

He was doing it. His plan was actually succeeding.

"…Seven…Six…"

Soon the entire world would be at his whim. He would be able to make them do whatever he wanted.

Not that that mattered. They had nothing they could offer him anyway.

"…Four…Three…"

Here it comes. The big moment. The day of Reckoning was finally here.

And here he was leading the charge.

"…One…and we're on!"

"Hello, human race." Derout said, in his calm soothing baritone, "I think it's about time you and I got acquainted…"

**VII**

David Murkowitz sat in the lounge, munching on Cheeto's and watching _Heroes _on the big screen.

He had been on break for almost two hours now…but no one had come to get him.

_They're must be some new robot model coming out or something_

He leaned back in his chair and popped open a can of soda, eager to see what the voluptuous form of Hayden Panitierre was going to do next…

…the only problem was…it didn't look like _Heroes _was on anymore.

Thirty seconds later he was running in a dead bolt across the Research Center, finding Gedden the only thought on his mind.

**VIII**

Ron Stoppable looked around the room, impressed.

_I have never seen so many objects I wanted to touch in one room before!_

The myriad of blinking lights and shiny knobs was mesmerizing to him.

However, all the shiny knobs in the world couldn't distract him now…not while Kim was in trouble.

The professional looking military guy had filled him in on all of the details…the robotics thing being a diversion, Kim and this guy Herschel going missing, and a strange new member to the Drakken and Shego team.

_How is it they keep finding recruits?_

Ron's thought was interrupted by the sound of a door slamming open and a panting, overweight, man in a lab coat ran into the room.

"General…(pant, pant)..Gedden"

Gedden looked up.

"What is it?"

The man continued panting, sweat pouring down his face.

"Turn on…the TV…"

Then he collapsed on the floor.

General Gedden was on his feet in a second.

"You heard the man" he said, pointing to a techie in the corner, "let's get the boob tube running!"

The techie obeyed and turned on the big TV screen in the far corner. Immediately, the face of a man Ron had never seen before occupied the once dark space.

"…have recently gotten my hands on some very 'rare and dangerous' Top Secret technology" he said, his voice smooth and sinister, "It has been code named 'Project Pegasus' by the powers that be and it is essentially the deadliest air base in the world."

He picked up a small mug on the side of him and sipped it before continuing.

"Basically, Project Pegasus is a flying, missile control center. It has the capabilities to hack into the activation code of any dormant nuclear missile the world and send it flying to wherever I choose."

The man chuckled.

"I have here, in my possession, the power to eviscerate Washington D.C. with a press of a button. And, incidentally, that is exactly what I plan to do."

Every face in the control room went white.

"Now, I suppose this is the part, in most megalomaniacal speeches, where the bad guy demands an absurd amount of cash from the government to prevent from unleashing my plan on the Earth and its inhabitants. I, fortunately, am not going to bore you with that kind of bribe, because I am not interested in money…I'm going to blow you all to Kingdom Come whether you give me a King's Ransom or not….I'm only warning you out of common British courtesy."

The man smiled and stood up.

"Well, ta ta then. Enjoy your last few moments on Earth."

The screen went black…and a hushed, petrified silence fell over the control room.

**IX**

All around the world, due to Herschel using Project Pegasus's telecommunications system to hack into every television in the world, a wave of panic was breaking out like a tsunami.

**X**

Kim Possible and Dr. Bortel both stared at the TV screen outside their clear, glass cell openmouthed.

Bother were too shocked to speak.

**XI**

In the Rutherford Hayes Research Center everyone had their eyes on General Gedden, waiting for their next move.

General Gedden took a deep breath…and then opened his mouth to speak:

"Smithson" he called out to techie he knew had been assigned to Project Pegasus, "what are our options?"

The techie named Smithson wiped the sweat from his brow before answering:

We have an small craft that will be able to gain access to Project Pegasus from the outside. It ws meant for just security purposes and if it would ever need repairs…"

"I want to be suited up and ready to board that thing in five minutes" Gedden said.

He made his way to the door.

"Unfortunatley…" the techie continued, clearly very reluctant to give the bad news to his superior officer, "the craft is only a prototype…it was designed for a monkey so that we would be able to test it's capabilities…sir, there is no way a man of your size would ever fit into that tiny flying box."

Gedden ran his hands through his hair.

_Shit._

"This is a problem, gentleman" Gedden said, his blood pressure rising, "we can't send a monkey on a rescue mission."

"No," said a somewhat nasally voice from behind him "but you _could _send a scrawny high school junior who is the smallest in his class."

Gedden turned around to see Ron puffing out his chest in the most heroic way he could.

"Absolutely not."

Ron deflated.

"Um, sir?" the techie named Smithson said "I don't mean to undermine your authority, but I think this young man would most definitely fit into the flying space craft…plus he _has _done dangerous missions before."

The techie gulped.

"And he's also the only chance we have."

General Gedden looked from Stoppable to the techie and then back to Stoppable. He could see no other option.

_What is the world coming to?_

Gedden sighed and put his head in his hand.

"Suit him up."

**XII**

Ten minutes later, Ron was walking down a brand new hallway with brand new lights wearing a brand new suit and with a brand new mission.

Stop the Bad Guy. Save the World.

Get the Girl.

_I'm coming, Kim. Don't worry. Just hold on._

Hello everyone. My _sincerest _apologies for the long wait, I am actually working on a non-fanfiction piece of fiction (try saying that ten times fast) for a college class at the moment so I have been pretty tied up with that…I am also sorry to say that I can't be sure when I will be able to post the next chapter.

However, if you need anything to do to pass the time I recently found a Pokemon fanfic that I had started writing about a three months ago and I just recently got the first four chapters of that published…it's called _The Great Wehyah _so if you have the time feel free to check that out.

Again, I am very sorry for the wait, I promise to get back on the ball as soon as I finish this other project…also please Read and Review.

Thanks a million,

Everhere Everthere


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of its characters except for the ones I made up. Now, that being said, let the story commence!

**Chapter 9**

She stared at the giant TV screen in front of her which had just gone blank.

This wasn't some hare-brained scheme of Drakken's or some ancient Simian ritual by Monkey…this was a full blown terrorist attack.

And she was caught right in the middle.

She looked over at the three figures beside her, two of them were just regaining consciousness and one of them wore an expression so grave Kim feared he might croak at any second.

Finding her voice, Kim spoke:

"Dr. Bortel" she asked "How big of a sitch are we in right now?"

He turned to face her, his expression unchanged.

"The biggest you could possibly imagine."

Kim gulped. She was afraid of that.

"What's the big deal?" She go asked, rubbing the side of her cranium, "Before you know it Uncle Sam will be here with his fancy jets and take this thing out of the sky. Derout will be in the hooscow before you can 'double-cross'"

Dr. Bortel shook his head.

"It's not that simple, I'm afraid" he said, "Once Project Pegasus has been activated there is no off switch. The only way to shut it down is internally" He sighed. "I'm afraid, for the time being, Mr. Derout is the most powerful man on the planet."

The entire holding cell was quiet. There wasn't much you could say to a comment like that.

No one spoke for several moments. It was so quiet you could hear everyone's heart beating to a nervous, paranoid tune.

Finally, it was Dr. Drakken who broke the silence.

"He was right."

All eyes swiveled over to the villain. He sat there, propped against the wall, a vacant sexpression on his face.

Shego raised an eyebrow.

"What's up, Doc?" she asked.

Drakken's expression didn't change.

'Oh Shego, even your generous throwbacks to popular culture won't save us this time. Derout had the perfect plan. He used the two of us to do his dirty work for him and now where we're back where we always are...in the dark blue ocean of defeat"

He was right, of course. Dead on. He couldn't have found a more pathetic villain on the planet. I mean look at me…I'm the color of blueberries for God's sake! I can't even invent my own doomsday devices…let's face it, I'm a failure."

Drakken hung his head…and said no more.

Kim stared at the megalomaniac. Even though they had done battle countless times in the past and they we're the perfect examples of the "archfoe" relationship, she couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pity for him. No one, not even Dr. Drakken, deserves to be backstabbed and be called utterly useless all in the same five minute time slot.

Kim felt so bad, in fact, that she was actually prepared to put a comforting arm around her worst enemies shoulder and tell him to cheer up and it would be ok…

…the problem was…someone already beat her to the punch.

"Hey…don't say things like that Dr. D" she said. "You are by far the most evil mad scientist _I've _ever worked for."

Drakken looked up at her.

"I'm the _only _mad scientist you've ever worked for."

Shego winced just a little. He had a point.

"Ok" she said, recovering "so you may not be the most _succesful _or _diabolical _villain in the world but you have other perks."

Drakken raised an eyebrow. "Such as?"

Shego winced again.

_Damn it. I didn't know there would be a quiz!_

"Um…well…uh…you certainly are the most charismatic of all the evil geniuses."

"How so?"

"Well…you've kept _me _around all this time…and Lord knows, you certainly don't pay handsomely."

Drakken's face seemed to lift a little at this.

"Yes well" he said "I suppose I _do_ have certain sense of debonair that exudes from every orifice."

Shego rolled her eyes internally, while at the back room Kim and Dr. Bortel made no attempt to hide the same action.

"Of course you do." Shego said through clenched teeth. "Not to mention all the exotic places we get to go to. The Amazon rainforest, Egypt, Italy…you know, if the whole 'taking over the world thing doesn't work out you would make a _great _travel agent."

Drakken sat up, smiling a bit.

"Yes…Yes we _do _see very exciting places don't we? I bet other super villains don't go have the places we do."

Shego nodded. "Exactly. Not to mention all the attention Princess here gives you."

They both turned to stare at Kim.

"Think about it" Shego continued, "She's there to bust you every time you start some new nefarious plot. The government must have made you her special case or something…they must be terrified of you."

Drakken grinned big and rose to his feet.

'You're right , Shego. Kim Possible is usually at the scene only _minutes _after I make the first move. The government probably has me wire tapped or something."

He walked over to the front of the window and spread his arms wide in a swooping guesture.

"You've messed with the wrong evil genius, Mr. Derout" he said, a evil triumphant grin on his face, "prepare to feel the almighty wrath of Dr. Drakken!"

Shego rose to her feet and, on what could only be described as the most sudden of impulses, went and hugged the grinning villain. Although he was surprised at first, Drakken returned the hug with a gentle smile on his face.

Immediately, a wave of awkward tension flushed over the group.

The two villains immediately released one another and backed up several feet, their faces absolutely _glowing _red.

"Yeah, erm, well, good to have you back Dr. D" Shego said, rubbing her arm.

"Yes, well, erh, it's good to _be _back, Shego"

Both of them stood there for a moment, apparently transfixed by what had just happened.

"Uh yes…well we had better start forming a plan to get out of here, hm?" Drakken said.

"Oh yeah!" She go agreed "Right, right, the plan…for our escape…yeah, yeah that plan."

They both walked forward in a straight line until they bumped into each other. The both apologized sheepishly before they made their way to separate sides of the holding cell.

Kim and Dr. Bortel shared a knowing glance.

"Remember what I told you about how the Moodulator _enhances _emotions?"

Kim nodded, smiling. She remembered.

_Well I may be being held hostage by an insane man who plans to blow up the world…_

…_but at least have my own private soap opera to watch in the mean time._

**II**

Derout turned off the motherboard Herschel had programmed to hack into the entire worlds telecommunications and reclined back in his chair.

_That went well_

By now he imagined, the world was in a heightened state of panic. They would be looting, pillaging, killing…all the violent things people will do if you get them scared enough.

Everything was going according to plan.

His relaxation was disturbed however when the face of Greg Herschel loomed over in his line of vision.

_Ooooh. He looks mad._

Derout turned to face him.

"Something bothering you, Gregory?"

Herschel puffed out his chest.

"Damn straight" he said "You said you plan to blow everyone up."

"Ahh" Derout said, smiling, "So you were paying attention?"

"Cut the crap," Herschel demanded, drawing a sidearm from his pocket, "You told me that the plan was to blackmail Washington and the other world governments…you said we would make a fortune."

Derout chuckled. "And now you've found out that lying is yet another one of my vices. You'll find that I have plenty of them."

Herschel drew the gun up to Derout's face.

"I should shoot you where you stand."

Derout smiled.

"Yes you should…but I know for a fact that you will not. Not without first receiving your payment."

Herschel raised his eyebrow.

"Payment?"

Derout nodded. "I may have been a little dishonest about the _amount _of money you would be receiving but I am good to my word that you will be receiving a substantial amount of money."

Dr. Hershel didn't lower the gun.

And why should I trust you _now?"_

Derout reached into his pocket and produced a large manila envelope.

"Seeing is believing, Gregory"

Hershel snatched the envelope from his hand and clutched it to his chest.

"OK you've bought yourself your life back" he said "now you have five seconds to get me off this little craft of yours."

Derout nodded and motioned over to a empty pod in the back of the room.

"That will take you off of this ship and to a safe house in Tuscon, Arizona."

Herschel looked at him warily.

"How do I know that you won't blow me up, the second I land?"

Derout smiled again.

"Gregory I promise you that, where you're going, you won't have to worry about my missiles at all."

Hershel grinned an ran over to the pod bay and shut the door behind him.

"Well?" he called to Derout, "What are you waiting for? Get me off of this thing."

Derout smiled wickedly and nodded to his cohort.

"As you wish, Gregory."

**III**

**Greg** Hershel waited excitedly in the pod bay to be released from Derout's presence.

_Finally…working for that lunatic paid off._

He eagerly gripped the envelope in his hands. It was heavy! He could see himself now…lying on a beach in Majorca for the rest of his life, eating at expensive restaurants every night, meeting beautiful and exotic women…

He couldn't take it anymore, he had to see his prize for himself.

He ripped open the envelope and peered inside…

Amidst all the heaps of confetti and printing press ink there was a single dollar lying at the bottom with a message printed on it in red ink.

Herschel picked it up and read what was written there:

_I'm always true to my word, Gregory._

Herschel looked up just in time to see a smiling Derout press a button on his right before the floor beneath him opened and he was ejected from the airship into the troposphere leaving a bright trail of confetti behind him.

**IV**

Derout smiled to himself as he left the room to go and make some tea for himself and his guests.

_It's amazing how some of the brightest men, _Derout thought to himself, _will fall for the simplest ploy._

And with that Derout exited the room and went into the kitchen for a snack.

**V**

To say Ron Stoppable was nervous would be an understatement.

He was currently being strapped (by a man who could only be described as the inspiration for Jack Nicholson's character in _A Few Good Men) _into a rocket that he could barely fit into with the responsibility of saving the entire world on his shoulders.

Needless to say, anxiety had stopped by for a visit.

General Gedden had just finished strapping Ron into the machine when Rufus tried to jump in next to him.

General Gedden's face immediately went hard.

"Not a chance, son." He said, picking Rufus out of the rocket, "This thing will barely accommodate you…I'm afraid your little mouse thing has to stay here."

Rufus chattered at the military man in defiance, but Ron shook his head.

"It's ok buddy" he said, "you can stay here and keep all these army types in line."

Rufus looked hurt for a second, but then quickly recovered with a full military salute.

General Gedden closed the door of the rocket and peered into the horrified face of its teenage occupant.

"Here's how it's going to go down son" he began "This rocket is specifically designed to repair the hull of the air ship so it can only dock on the outside. That means as soon as you land you will have to crawl along the outside of the ship so you can enter it through an air duct."

If it was at all possible...Ron Stoppable's face grew even whiter.

"Once your inside you'll have to make your way through the air duct to the engine room. When you're there either myself or McClinsky will radio information to you about how disable the engine so we can regain control of it. Do you understand everything so far?"

Ron was much too terrified to speak.

"Good" said Gedden, as he walked over to a control panel. Once there he positioned his hand on a lever and turned to face Ron.

"Do you have any questions before you take on this matter of national security?"

With a face as white as paste and his stomach so full of butterflies it was almost a pavilion, Ron Stoppable nodded."

General Gedden nodded, and gave Ron a standard military salute.

"Godspeed, Stoppable."

And then he pushed the lever down launching upwards, where destiny was already waiting for him.

To Be Continued:

Hello everyone…I would like to introduce you to Chapter Nine of the Things I Never Knew.

Chapter Nine, this is everyone…

While you all get acquainted let me again apologize for the long delay in chapters, However I can promise you that this story will be finished before the flowers bloom in spring or my name isn't Everhere Everthere!

Oh and by the way, Chapter Nine told me that if you don't read and review him he's going to write all sorts of nasty things about you on his Myspace page.

(Between you and me, I think he's going a little overboard but you know those literary segments… they are _such _diva's.)

All the best,

Everhere Everthere


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Kudos to the Disney Corporation for their possession of the greatest satirical super spy cartoon show I know to be in existence.

**Chapter 10**

**I**

Ron had heard the term "G-Force" many times over the past seventeen years. He heard in science class, studied it in physics class, and had even watched a crappy little cartoon movie about secret agent hamsters that had that term for a title.

But, as he sat in the rocket shooting skyward at an impossible speed feeling the skin on his face about to peel off, he never truly appreciated the term for what it really was…

…a synonym for hell on Earth.

Ron had tried to close his eyes during the ride but the pull of gravity on his face was too strong for that. So Ron Stoppable got to enjoy the troposphere zoom by him at gut-wrenching speed as he zoomed toward the hovering Project Pegasus.

Then, almost as suddenly as he had taken off, he felt his thundering vessel come to a sort of hovering halt.

Ron tried adjusting himself and to reorient his brain to his surroundings.

It was about that time the pod bay doors to the rocket opened up.

The doors created a hole directly above Ron's head, allowing him to rise out of the rocket as a vampire would rise from a coffin. Once outside, he could see that his rocket was now hovering about three feet away from a giant floating castle, almost as big as any skyscraper Ron had ever seen.

Even though he was now several miles above the Earth's crust in a small metal cylinder that was barely big enough for him Ron couldn't help but marvel at the sheer ingenuity of this docking mechanism. Before liftoff, General Gedden explained that the rocket emanated a special magnetic signal that, when it came in contact with an opposite magnetic signal emanating from Project Pegasus would stabilize the craft and hold it in place even though it was several thousands of feet in the air.

_What'll they think of next?_

Trying his best not to look down, Ron slowly raised himself to a sitting position in the rocket. General Gedden had told him that on his left he would see a small foothold about six yards form a ventilation chamber. He would have to slowly make his way across this foothold and up into the ventilation chamber if he wanted to save Kim and the world along with her.

_Easy peezy lemon squeezy._

Kim had always taught him during missions, whenever his fear was about to get the better of him, to focus on the objective. Usually that didn't help much as they were usually all about stopping Drakken or Duff Killigan or some other whack job with a theme. But not this time…This time he had the most beautiful objective in the world to focus on.

Carefully, with thoughts of Kim on his mind, Ron eased himself onto the foothold and began inching his way across it.

The sense of vast openness behind almost made him look behind him but he fought it. He knew the second he looked over his shoulder and down into that impossible drop it would all be over…and quick.

After what seemed like an eternity Ron made it to the ventilation shaft. Then, as ordered, he clicked the button on a device General Gedden had given him to let the old man know that he had reached the target.

_So far, so good._

Ron kept his mind ever focused on Kim as he removed the cover of the vent and hoisted himself inside, thinking the worst part of the mission was over.

He had no idea just how wrong he was.

**II**

The device in General Gedden's pocket buzzed, causing him to jump.

When he recovered from the shock he fished into his pocket and produced a small, black device, similar to a walkie-talkie and identical to the one Ron had.

He opened the front casing of the object and looked at the two simple words blinking on the screen like a text message:

OBJECTIVE COMPLETE

_I'll be damned, _Gedden thought, _the kid did it._

He looked up towards the sky then and spoke aloud, as if though maybe, if the wind was just right, the young man would hear him.

"Godspeed, son. Godspeed."

**III**

Adrian Derout watched the young man on the TV screen before shimmy across the hull of his ship like some bizarre monkey.

Derout raised an eybrow and allowed a smirk to cross his face.

_Well…looks like I'll have to prepare another cup._

He added one more cup of tea to his platter, the new one with extra sugar, he figured the boy preferred it that way, and exited into the room where his "guests" resided.

**IV**

Kim Possible watched solemnly as the world on the TV screen before fell further and further into chaos, while she sat behind a thick glass wall powerless to stop it.

For the last several minutes Derout had been feeding them live footage of an American city she presumed to be Los Angeles go up in smoke as its terrified inhabitants ran rampant.

_Why is he showing us this? What purpose does it serve?_

But Kim knew that was an answer she could never hope to know. Because when you're in the teen hero business one rule of thumb becomes very clear to you very quickly:

Mad men need no reasoning.

It was then, almost as if her thoughts had summoned him, that Derout entered the room with a platter containing a teapot and several tea cups.

"Tea Time!"

He set the platter down on a table in the middle of the room and faced his captors behind the glass.

"I always find that a nice hot cup of tea is always the perfect complement to viewing the destruction of civilization." He chuckled a bit before adding: "Why don't you all join me?"

He motioned to one of Herschel's robot assistants. The robot beeped in confirmation and rolled over to a control panel on the far wall. It then pressed a series of buttons which caused the glass door holding them in to fly up into the wall.

Kim was in fighter stance in a heartbeat. Now that she was off her chain she was ready to make minced meat out of this British sociopath.

The problem was Derout didn't seemed very threatened…in fact he was chuckling.

"Now, Ms. Possible" he said. "Didn't you learn anything from Ms. Shego's little run-in with me? I am fully protected, remember? Absolutely nothing can hurt me."

Derout flashed the green bubble around his body as if to reaffirm his point.

Kim slouched in her position. She was beaten before the fight had begun.

Derout raised his eyebrow.

"Are none of you going to accept the tea? Shame. You don't know what you're missing, I hear it's Liverpool's finest."

He took a sip.

"And I can't say I disagree with them."

Shego, evidently fed up with Derout's flippant attitude, stepped forward.

"All right, Ringo, you've had your fun" she said, "Now what's with the whole "panic the crowd" bit? What are you trying to prove?"

Derout cleared his throat before speaking.

"Shego I think you may have misheard my plan. I'm not trying to _prove _anything. I'm simply going to blow up all the major cities of the world, no questions asked, no strings attached."

Shego took a step forward.

"See…that's what I don't get…nobody, no matter how self-righteous they claim to be, just goes and annihilates entire populations without anything to gain. So come on Weasley, spill it. What's your angle? What agenda have you got hidden away?"

Derout stared at Shego for a moment, not saying a word. Then, much to the surprise of everyone, he threw back his head in a deep throaty laugh.

"Oh Shego" he said, between guffaws, "In all my years I've never met anyone quite like you. You have such a feisty and uncontrollable spirit; it almost makes me sad that I'll have to extinguish it."

He paused for a moment to wipe is eyes on his sleeve.

"You're right, of course. I _do _have something to gain. In fact…I have _everything _to gain."

He turned to face them, his expression suddenly serious.

"There is a virus currently in the peak of its outbreak, a plague that is sweeping the Earth than I would have ever thought possible. It's polluting the lakes, the rivers, the oceans, the Ozone layer, and, worst of all, it has polluted the mind of every man, woman, and child in existence. And it is now up to me to eradicate it."

Kim spoke now, anger boiling deep within her heart.

"That's insane! You can't just kill millions of people o you can get rid of some disease! We have doctors, medicines, surgeries, that sort of thing…you won't stop the spread of a virus simply by killing every person it could come in contact with!"

Derout's eyes narrowed. They honed in on Kim like a heat seeking missile hones in on a bonfire.

"You misunderstand me, Ms. Possible. I'm not speaking of a virus that attacks the human immune system, but rather a virus that is attacking the planet as a whole."

Kim balked.

"I don't understand."

Derout rose to his feet, a full on anger boiled in his eyes now.

"Of course you don't understand. _NO ONE _understands."

He walked over to the giant window overlooking the beautiful landscape of the Earth below it.

"Down there the virus runs rampant. It's in the streets. In the schools. In the hospitals. Everywhere. It's been raging down there for a millennia and, until today, no one has tried to fix it. But that's why I'm here. I shall be the bee the one to take us all to Promised Land by eradicating the virus once and for all."

"How? By destroying every major city in the world?"

"YES!" Derout screamed, wheeling around with a mad expression in his eyes. "Yes, that's _exactly _what I plan to do! Don't you people see? Don't you get it? _Humanity _is the virus! _People _are the things polluting everyone and everything in my environment. I am here to save people from themselves!"

Derout took a deep breath. He appeared to try and regain his composure before continuing.

"It just gets worse and worse every year, every minute. Surely, you must have noticed, Ms. Possible, you of all people. Decency. Kindness. Good Will Towards Man. All Gone. Evaporated. Extinct. All that's left in their place is Corruption. Evil. War. Famine. Pestilence. Everything that was once held sacred is gone…"

He looked back out the window, a misty look in his eyes.

"But not for long. Oh no, not for long. I'm going to save us, don't you see? I'm going to free us from all that evil by destroying its core. I'll eviscerate every major city on the globe, one by one, and with it, all the corruption that the city provides. And then I, Adrian Vincent Derout, will rise from the rubble and the catastrophe and lead the wayward survivors to the Promised Land! I will be there Messiah! I will lead them to their Heaven on Earth, a place where corruption is nonexistent and evil is a thing of the past! I will give their own Shangri-La, their own utopia, and soon the deeds that happened today will be forgotten. The ends justify the means, that's as common a saying as anything, and it certainly hold true now. Soon…Humanity will be free, from the virus. From themselves."

Derout finished his speech with an ecstatic smile across his face and sweat pouring down his face.

The four of them, Drakken, Shego, Kim, and Cyrus Bortel all stared at the clean-cut psychopath before them in awe.

There could be no doubt about it then.

This man was certifiably insane…and certifiably dangerous.

Kim raced through her mind for a solution. Certainly all her years of training had to have _some _solution to this mess, but the more she thought, the more she drew up a blank.

_Keep him talking, Kim _she thought _Keep him busy until help arrives._

At least…that's what she hoped.

"Adrain..." she said quietly "Think about what you're doing. Please. Deep down you know this is wrong. Not everyone is evil…you must know that."

Derout allowed a small saddening smile cross his lips.

"Oh, Kim. If only I could be as young as you, as naïve as you. The minds of young people always have hoe in their minds, no matter what situation they come from."

He took a remote from his pocket and turned on the TV to his right.

"It breaks my heart to show you this Kim, but it's for your own good."

And with that he turned the TV on to reveal the picture of a overweight-forty something man carrying a crowbar.

Kim gulped. Whatever she was about to see she could be certain that it was _not _the feel-good film of the year.

**V**

Tommy DelFonte smashed the window of the SUV with the crowbar he had found, causing shards of glass to spill all over the family inside.

"Get Out!" he screamed at them, taking advantage of the fear he saw in their faces. "Get out of the car! Now!"

Tommy DelFonte could not have hated himself more than he did at this moment, but he didn't have any other options left. Some other thug had stolen his car and sped out of the city with it. If he didn't get another ride out of town…he shuddered to think of the result.

He looked at family, still immobile. Evidently too scared to move.

"Didn't you all hear what I said!? Get. Out. Of. The. Car. And do it fast. "

He heard a girl in the back start to cry. She couldn't have been more than three or four.

"You have five seconds." He said, making his voice as scary as possible, "After that I'm taking this car, whether you leave it or not. And I can guarantee you, you won't enjoy the ride!"

Finally, little by little, the petrified family opened their doors and slowly slinked out of the vehicle.

Tommy climbed in through the shattered glass, cutting his arm. He didn't care. He had to move.

During this whole process his conscience had been roaring at him, berating him.

_You know this is wrong, Tommy._

He ignored it. It was survival of the fittest now, baby. No room for a conscience.

He had just turned the ignition on when heard a voice from the back seat.

"Mr. DelFonte?"

Panic seized him. He knew that voice.

He turned around prying his suspicions were inaccurate.

They weren't

There, sitting in the backseat of the car he had just stolen, was little Zach Miachias, a student in Tommy's third grade class.

_Oh no…Please God no…this can't be his car…it can't!_

"Why did you break my mom's car, Mr. DelFonte?"

Tommy looked at this little boy who he had seen in class so many times. The eyes that usually looked at him with admiration were now staring at him in a cold fear.

Tommy fought back all of his parental urges of confronting the boy, and spoke as clearly as he could.

"Get out of the car, Zach. Now."

The little boy quivered a bit, but still didn't move.

"You made my sister cry, Mr. DelFonte."

Tommy whirled in his seat and grabbed the boy by his shirt collar.

"Listen to me you stubborn little kike" he spat at him, 'I'm not going to tell you again. Get out of here. Right NOW!"

Tommy threw the young boy back against the seat. He erupted into tears the second his head hit the back windshield.

It was then that his mother intervened. She opened the side door of the car, and reached in to pull her crying son out of her very own car.

As soon as the boy was out of the car, Tommy sped off sown the city streets, tears of his own streaking his face.

**VI**

Derout clicked off the TV and turned to face the shocked and silent group around him.

"You see? Do you see my point now? You put man in any kind of peril and he immediately reverts to his own animalistic qualities of "Dog-Eat-Dog." He becomes more selfish than he already was. And if anyone stands in his way, be it a woman, small child, or old man, then he will remove this obstacle by any means necessary."

Derout turned back to TV screen and chuckled.

"That fool. He thinks he is escaping the danger by stealing that car. But he is mistaken. No matter how fast you run, you can never hide from yourself."

A sudden banging above him caused Derout to look upward.

"Ah." He said, "it appears as if though our belated guest has arrived."

**VII**

Ron had climbed through countless air vents in his life but this one was by far the draftiest.

He shivered for about the thirtieth time as the sound of voices finally pricked his ears.

Immediately he was on the alert. Voices meant people. And people meant…Kim.

He shuffled along the air vent, much faster than he had been. He was eager to see Kim, to know that she was allright.

Ron Stoppable never stopped to think that a multi-billion dollar government project might have faulty ventilation systems. The sheer thought of just seemed so outrageous. So outrageous, in fact, that the thought didn't even cross his mind as the floor of the ventilation shaft collapsed from underneath him and sent him toppling to the floor.

He landed on his back. Hard. So hard that it took awhile for the room to come into focus.

When the picture finally became clear enough, Ron was surprised to find the tall, handsome, dark-haired standing over him…a polite smile on his face.

"Well now" the man said, still smiling, "You certainly aren't the pro at making dramatic entrances, now are you?"

_To Be Continued_

Well my dears this concludes the tenth installment of The Things I Never Know and, I don't know about you guys but, this installment has a very dreary atmosphere to it don't you think?

Worry not, _mi amigos, _I promise this story will get better, I think almost about to the point where I can wrap it up. I figure about three more chapters out to do it.

In the meantime…please Read and Review. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome and are somewhat instrumental to the creative process.

Much obliged and later days,

Everhere Everthere


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer:

I Swear By the stars in Heaven Above,

The deed to KP is not in my glove

Nor in my hand or my shoe for that matter

(I find absurdity in the latter)

By heaven, what I am trying to say,

I don't own KP, so no lawsuit ok?

**Chapter 11**

It was awhile before the jumbled head of Ron Stoppable could make sense of the bizarre surroundings he now found himself in.

It was clear to him that he fell from the ventilation shaft. The pain in his lower backside told him that. But what he couldn't figure out was why everything was so quiet.

_Where are the henchmen? The self-activating lasers? Or all the other horrible things that usually happen to me when I fall from something?_

Ron waited a moment longer with baited breath, waiting for the challenge that was to come.

And yet…it did not.

Finally, he allowed himself to open his eyes.

She was the first thing he saw. And, even though he wasn't quite sure it was possible, she was more beautiful than ever before. Even though the look on her face epitomized concern, he still couldn't help but notice the smoothness of her skin, the structure of her cheeks, and that enchanting hue of her eyes. It was the eyes that got him every time, you know. Their pale green luminescence was almost too much for his average brain to handle.

She looked right at him then. Their eyes locked upon one another. Pale green met almond brown. And, although they were high above the Earth, they both felt like they were on solid ground.

She smiled at him, relieved to see that he was in one piece.

"Ron" she breathed.

He smiled back.

"Ki-" he began.

"Ah yes, Ron. I rather wondered when you'd be joining us."

Ron looked behind him toward the source of the all-too familiar baritone voice. It wasn't long before his gaze fell upon none other than the cocky, lackadaisical stature of Adrian Derout.

The villain motioned over to the table to his right.

"I made tea. Care for some?"

Ron's eyes narrowed at the man in front of him.

"I'll pass. My mom always taught me not to talk tea from strangers…or maniacal, psychopaths in cheap three-piece suits."

(It was at this moment that Shego turned to Drakken and whispered "When did sidekick get a mouth?")

Derout shrugged his shoulders, and covered up the tea set with a silver dome.

"You know, you Americans are really quite obnoxious when it comes to tea parties" he said "I mean the _least _could do is sample it…It's not like it's made out of excrement or anything…"

Derout continued his rant on American etiquette and headed into the kitchen area to put up the tea set. Ron watched him go.

"Ok, before this is just skimmed over, I have to ask…Why is there a kitchen area on a floating military doomsday control center?"

His question was left unanswered due to the petite young red head who thrust herself into his arms.

'Oh Ron" she gasped, squeezing as tight as she could "I'm so glad you're ok! How are you feeling? How did you get up here?"

A slightly blue-faced Ron Stoppable slowly scooted away from his friend.

"As glad as I am to see you, Kim could we keep the questions, and the suffocating, to a minimum?"

She relaxed and smiled a bit as she released him.

"Sorry."

The other three occupants of the room walked over to join the two reunited friends.

Ron's face grew nervous as he saw the two villainous counterparts come into view.

"Uhhh Kim…Not freak over spilled milk but Drakken and Shego are right behind you!"

Shego put up her hand to silence him.

"Relax, Rambo." She said. "We're just as much prisoners here as you and princess."

Kim, ignoring the put down, placed both of her hands on Ron's shoulders and began to debrief him.

"Ron" she began "We've got big trouble here. Derout is going to use Project Pegasus and hack into…"

"…all the nuclear warheads on the planet and them against their owners, I know." he said, "I caught the psychos big screen debut back on Earth."

Kim stood back a little, impressed by her friend's up-to-date status.

"Right." She said.

Ron looked over to the direction of the door Derout exited through…he couldn't quite figure it out yet, but _something _about the current situation he was in made him feel like something was wrong. That this scenario was far more different than any other bad guy/good guy scenario they had ever been in before.

He just couldn't figure out what it was…

The, like in old cartoons where a Steinway is dropped on a characters head turning their bodies into an accordion-like structure, the realization struck him.

"He just _left." _Ron sputtered, motioning to the door the villain left from, "he just up and left us out here. We're not even in tied up!"

He turned to the other members in the group, especially the redhead at the center.

"Kim what are we waiting for!? Let's bag this guy and get this mission over with."

It was then that, as a total surprise to both of them, Ron pulled Kim close to his body, so that they were pressed up together ever so gently.

"Quite frankly, KP" he said, "I'm pretty sick and tired of worrying about you today."

Ron stared at his friend and watched her cheeks go scarlet and the corners of her mouth turn significantly up wards.

"Ron" she said "That's so sweet."

The two were quickly pulled from each other's gaze by the sound of footsteps behind them.

"Oh yes, you're a regular Teddy Bear" Derout said, reentering the room, "and to respond to your earlier statement, the reason no one has tried to attack me yet, is because they have all found out how utterly futile it would be."

Once again Derout demonstrated his indestructible green bubble that surrounded his person.

"And furthermore, the reason I'm not locking any of you up is because is because, quite frankly, you all look like sad little fish behind that giant glass wall. It's quite depressing, really."

Kim's eyes narrowed at the Englishman.

"Sorry to put you in a sour mood."

Derout chuckled, "It's quite all right, my dear girl…" He turned his attention to the monitor screen which now bore the image of numbers counting down to zero, "I have a feeling I'm about to be the happiest man on Earth."

**II**

General Gedden chewed off another section of his fingernail, and spit it on to the floor.

He looked at his hand. After, repeating that same ritual over and over again for the past half hour, he had reduced all the nails on his right hand down to nubs.

Gedden chided himself and stuck his hand in his pocket. His wife _hated _when he bit his fingernails…

Gedden looked up at the screen before him. The lunatic had sent the research facility the image of the clock counting down to the detonation of the missiles. Gedden could only guess that Derout was now intending to make everyone an Earth squirm like little maggots.

Gedden lifted up his left hand and began chewing on his thumbnail.

In times of crises, bad habits are the most welcome things in the world.

A young technician, Arnold Mankowitz if he Gedden remembered right, came and stood by him, sipping coffee from a mug.

"How long has he been up there, sir?" the young techie asked.

"Too long."

Mankowitz took another sip from his coffee and looked toward the giant monitor screen.

"You know something, General Gedden" Mankowitz said, "I'm not worried at all. I know what Kim Possible can do. My kids have worshipped her since she was twelve."

General Gedden did look away from the screen.

"I agree. I have no doubt that Ms. Possible can hold her own up there…the problem is…the situation is no longer in her control."

Mankowitz nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Her sidekick is carrying the torch now." Mankowitz smiled, "But hey…she's kept him around all these years…that has to say something about him."

Once again, Gedden made no sign of approval.

"I don't know, Mankowitz. I've been in too many do or die situations where a rookie is in charge. None have ended up very pretty."

"Well…there's a first time for everything."

Finally, Gedden looked over at the young technician.

"You're pretty confident about this kid, Mankowitz."

Mankowitz shrugged. "My mother always told me that faith was the only thing that was keeping this world turning. I guess that's something I've always taken to heart."

General Gedden chuckled.

"I'd hate to break it to you, Mankowitz, but faith isn't going to get us out of this mess."

Mankowitz downed the rest of his coffee in one gulp and wiped his mouth.

"I know that, General" he said, "But a little bit of support, be it physical or spiritual, can go a long way."

And with that, Mankowitz threw away his cup and made his way back to the station.

General Gedden looked back at the TV screen and watched as the numbers continued to decrease.

He reached into his left breast pocket and dug his hand in there. He then produced a small, shining golden cross and held it in his hand. David Gedden had kept this cross on his person for thirty years now; ever since the day he received it during his confirmation to the Catholic Church. Yet, he had never realized an opportunity to use it.

Until now.

It was then that David Gedden Gedden placed the golden cross to his heart and began to recite familiar word in his head:

_Our Father,_

_Who art in Heaven._

_Hallowed Be Thy Name…_

**III**

About a thousand feet up above General Gedden's head something miraculous was occurring.

Ron Stoppable was getting an idea.

Ideas didn't usually come to Ron. He never had an epiphany before in his life, and coming up with creative plans was not his strong suit…

…but today, as if though the muse of fire had finally ascended, Ron Stoppable hatched the most ingenious plan he had ever before conceived.

And phase one was almost too easy for words:

Keep the bad guy talking.

"Dude, what is your deal?" The young boy challenged, "Why do you hate the world so much?"

The villain chuckled and sipped tea from his glass. His gaze didn't leave the ticking clock.

"Allow me to answer your question with another question" he said, "If someone you loved were tainted with a serious disease that ate their flesh and rotted their minds from the inside out would you not want to cure them? Using any means necessary?"

Ron didn't answer, but secretly congratulated himself.

_ Yes! He's monologing!_

"Yes. Of course, I would"

The madman continued:

"Then you understand my methods more than you realize. Ever since I was a child I could see the world for what it really was…a wasteland. Nothing but a barren desolate waste of space full of people who would sooner sell their souls for material possessions than live a life of even moderate decency."

Ron didn't respond to Derout. Instead he silently began inching himself over to the right…near the control panel.

Kim was in shock as she watched her friend do this. If Derout caught him…she shuddered to think about the outcome.

But it was too late; Ron was already half way there.

Apparently unbeknownst to his surroundings, Derout continued with his monologue.

"So you see, my boy, I do not hate the world. Far from it. I love it. I love everything from its shining oceans to the wonders of the Serengeti. I love it so much that I am willing to do anything I can to save it…even if it means destroying its inhabitants."

Derout seemed to have finished his speech and was staring absent-mindedly out the window.

But Ron didn't care; he had succeeded in his endeavor.

Now at the control panel, it was only a matter of time before he had found an off switch. He imagined it couldn't be hard to miss. He just kept his eyes open for a gigantic looking red button, something was sure to jump out at him.

And it wasn't long at all before something did.

There, in the top, left hand, side of the control panel, was a medium-sized lever with the word "ABORT" written beneath it in capital letters.

_Jackpot_

It was with great pride in both himself and his luck that Ron grasped the fateful lever in his right hand, holding it with firm conviction. He gaze hardened, and his teeth clenched. And he made sure to look at her as he thrust the level down. He wanted her to know how he had saved the day, on his own, and that he was capable of damn near anything. He thrust downward with a dramatic flair, his confidence nearly to its climax, when he felt the lever reach its base his chest heave with pride.

He looked up from the conquered lever to view the damage he had wrought. He was anxious to see the proud, admiring look on his friends face and the look of utter defeat on the visage of his foe.

Upon looking up, however, he was greeted with neither.

In fact, nothing seemed to have changed at all.

He gave the lever a few more swift tugs for good measure.

Again, nothing.

_Did I miss something here?_

Almost as if he read his mind, Derout spoke from the back of the room:

"Did forget to mention" he inquired "that Project Pegasus has a built-in fail safe programming element in its mainframe?"

Ron looked at him quizzically.

"Yeah…did I forget to mention that I have no idea what that means?"

Derout smirked.

"It means, you ninny, that once Project Pegasus has been turned on…it cannot be turned off."

Ron could only stare.

"I am afraid" Derout continued "that all opportunities to stop me have passed you by. Your only course of action now, is to watch your species face its extinction."

**IV**

Kim Possible watched as her friends face fell from the peak of triumph to the valley of defeat. She watched him slump on the control panel, broken, defeated.

She wanted to rush over to him, to console him. She wanted to tell him how much what he did really meant to her. She wanted to tell him how brave she thought he was for risking everything, putting his life on the line, to save her and the entire world. But mostly…she wanted to tell him how glad she was that he was here, with her. And that, if they were going to perish (and that was coming closer and closer to a reality by each passing second) then she was glad they could be together.

But she didn't tell him any of these things, her fear and her anxiety kept her rooted to that spot.

And she watched her friend collapse from the inside out.

A morose, sinister chuckling arose from the back of the room.

"Oh, look at him. He looks so _defeated."_

Derout turned to face the young man, pure malice covered his face like a cheap, latex mask.

"But I mean come _ON_, what did you expect? Did you honestly think it would be that easy? Did you really think that I would leave something as tangible as an _off switch _just lying out in the open?"

Kim watched as Ron diverted his gaze to the ground, shame erupting like a volcano inside of him.

Derout chuckled again. "My God, you _did! _You _actually _did! Why, you're an even bigger idiot and than that Drakken fellow!"

Kim saw Ron wince at the comment. The action made her spirit bubble with fury.

"You are, without a doubt, the most pathetic, inexperienced, bumbling, messy headed simpleton I have ever laid eyes on. You're just like a monkey. A big, blonde, ignorant gorilla with poor hygiene…why anyone would consider _you _as a sidekick is completely and totally beyond me."

Kim had heard all she was able to hear. She had reached her breaking point, and now that dam had burst.

"Shut UP!" she roared, so loud that it seemed to shake the very foundation of the air craft itself.

Derout turned his attention from Ron to Kim, that ever-present sinister smirk penciled on his face.

"Well, well" he said "I guess it's true what they say about redheads and their tempers."

Kim ignored the comment, and shouted again:

"Who do you think you are calling him pathetic? If anyone on this ship is pathetic it's _you! _ You with your 'big plan' about 'saving the world' by blowing it up, this isn't a plan to save the world…it's just one big cry for attention! Who are you trying to impress, Derout? Your boss? Your ex-wife? Your father? You're nothing but a coward, a little man who hides behind a big machine and his delusions of self superiority."

Kim gestured towards Ron, who had been watching her with awe.

"Ron risked his life to come up here and save me, and stop _you._ He literally put everything he had on the line with nothing but his brain and his own two hands. And you're calling _him _pathetic? You aren't even a fourth the man he is…and he's only seventeen!"

Kim finished her rant with an erratic wave of heaving breaths.

Ron stared at her in the corner, staring at her with amazement.

"Wow" he breathed.

It was then, for the second time that day, that their eyes met. Once again brown met green and once again the elements sang in perfect harmony. Upon looking into one another's eyes they found what they each had been harboring since they were just learning to write their ABC's. They found the one thing that they had always shared, the one thing that truly made them…unstoppable.

Love.

They knew it then, without a shadow of a doubt, that they had finally realized just how much they meant to one another. How much they _needed _one another. And how much they were willing to sacrifice for one another.

And that was all they needed to know.

The sound of clapping hands interrupted their thoughts.

"Oh very impassioned speech, Ms. Possible, very impassioned. Oh and not to mention…" Derout looked from Kim to Ron with glee in his eyes, "…enlightening."

Derout turned away from them to face the giant ticking clock.

"It's a shame that the two of you won't have a romantic first date…" he chuckled "I can't imagine an apocalyptic wasteland being that much of a mood-setter."

**V**

_Eureka!_

That was the only word on Ron's mind when he saw it. The solution. The answer.

The saving grace.

Quietly, with Derout's back turned, he quietly went to work.

**VI**

_ Eureka! _

That was the only word on Dr. Drakken's mind when he saw it. The solution. The answer.

The saving grace.

Quietly, with Derout's back turned, he quietly went to work.

**VII**

Derout beamed at the lucid screen before him. The same blood-red numbers blinking like a beacon of the damned:

**2:30**

He chuckled. Success was little over two minutes away…he could sense the victory in his bones. Soon, all of his dreams, his goals, his sacrifices, would all come to fruition and he would reign King of the Fallen.

"Only two minutes more" he called out to his captives, who were no doubt still grasping at straws of ways to defeat him. Imbeciles.

"Only two minutes more" he repeated, "and then it's all over. I've selected Washington D.C. to be the first city to go…What do you think? I had tossed around Paris and Baghdad for awhile but I didn't figure anyone would miss either of them."

He looked out the window to his right, his following the impossible drop to the Earth.

"We're right under it, you know. Washington D.C. I mean. We can watch the fireworks from the best seat in the house…if we're lucky we could even watch the missile go by."

He paused then, and waited. He waited for the pointless claims of salvation from the redhead or the condescending remarks from the green-skinned one, but, oddly enough, neither came.

It was the blonde doofus who spoke (which was surprising in and of itself) but what was even more surprising was the context of his statement.

"There will be fireworks, dude" he said "but I don't think you'll like them from where _you're _standing.

Derout turned.

"I beg your pardon?"

The blonde idiot smiled. "You picked the wrong day to try and blow up the world."

Derout scoffed. "Oh really? What is it Yom Kippur or something?"

Still smilling, he responded: "No…it's the day the Ronman learned latitude and longitude in geography class."

Silence.

A long silence.

Then, like the horns of the second coming, Derout's laughter rang throughout the room.

"Oh is that so? Well, please young man, do enlighten me…why should I be perplexed by this?"

Ron posture stiffened, his head once again swelling with pride.

"It's true what you said about Project Pegasus not being able to be turned off but, like a good friend once told me, for every problem there is always a solution."

Ron turned to look at Kim, his face beaming. He winked at her.

Derout raised an eyebrow.

"Your anecdotes are enthralling" he said "but I am still missing the important plot line of _where this is all going."_

Now it was Ron's turn to laugh.

"You mean you haven't figured it out yet, O Wise and Awesome Mastermind? Project Pegasus's launch schedules may be set in stone but it's _coordinates _can be altered…"

Derout froze.

The boy was right.

During the time he had his back turned the simpleton could have easily changed the direction of the missile to somewhere harmless like a sea or desert. That would throw him back behind schedule.

In spite of himself, Derout chuckled.

"I'm impressed, boy" he said. Perhaps you're not a completely oafish moron after all…but, I am sorry to say, all you've managed to do is slightly upset my schedule a bit. As soon as this missile crashes and burns I'll simply launch another…after properly disposing of you and your little girlfriend first, of course."

Much to his surprise, Ron laughed at him.

"Sorry dude, but this launch is the last and final act of Project Pegasus. Once this missile hits it's all over."

Derout looked back concerned. This boy seemed entirely _too _confident.

"Ok boy, you have my attention. Where did you send the first missile?"

Ron smiled and held up both of his hands in the shape of an "O".

"Zero degrees latitude, and zero degrees longitude."

Derout chuckled uncontrollably again. He couldn't _believe _the stupidity of this boy. And to think he had actually been _concerned._

"You putz" he said "All that will do is bring the missile straight up. Eventually, gravity will take its course and crash back down into D.C. If anything, you've merely made my plan more ironic!"

Ron smiled, a certain gleam in his eye.

"You're forgetting one thing."

Derout laughed again. This boy was certainly amusing…he was almost sad he had to die…

…Almost.

"Oh get over yourself, boy" he said "The only way that missile could be stopped is if…"

Suddenly, all of the color drained from Derout's face like a vacuum. He could feel his heart come to a dead halt in his chest.

Finally, he saw.

The, with revelation and foreboding rising in his chest he spoke:

"…it ran into something big along the way."

Ron Stoppable smirked at the mad man and crossed his arms.

"Booyah."

**To Be Continued**

Hello everyone, I certainly hope you enjoy this installment of _The Things I Never Knew_ (Lord knows I did_) _and I hope you will continue to follow it too the end.

Truth be told, I originally planned to have this story done by mid October, and its _sequel _ to be finished right before the Holidays…but I guess sometimes life gets in the way of things, am I right?

But still, I give my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed and hope that this story will not disappoint…

Thanks again.

Merry Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza/Ramadan/Billy Mays Day/and everything I've missed,

Everhere Everthere


	12. Chapter 12

_ Disclaimer: I'm running out of clever ways to say I have no ownership of the Kim Possible franchise…but hey, I assume the lot of you already know that._

**Chapter 12**

**I**

Falling.

Everything was falling.

All of his plans, his ambitions, his visions, all of them destroyed, just like the world he had hoped to save.

He had been beaten.

And what was worse, he had been beaten by the most unlikely candidate of all: The moronic, blonde haired, yuppie in front of him.

Derout slowly began to feel the feeling came back into his face. He could begin to feel the shock creeping away from his muscles.

He looked over at the boy, his vocal chords still not able to function.

He looked at him, and he looked back.

Smiling.

He looked so smug, so arrogant, so unbelievably self-righteous. He wore his grin only halfway, the right side of his mouth turned upwards in a cocky smirk. His eyebrows were perfectly level with one another as he stared at him with a sneer that made Derout's insides boil.

"You." he finally managed to choke out, hatred swelling with each syllable, "You think you've won? You think this is over?"

The boy's face didn't change, not even in the slightest.

" I _know _it is. Give it up, Derout. You've lost."

Derout stared at him for a moment in silence. He couldn't believe this boy. This…_Child. _How could he be so smug_?_ How could this _idiot _have bested him?

He knew it wasn't over. It simply _couldn't _be over. Not yet.

Not yet.

Then suddenly, like a rising tidal wave, Derout slowly began to utter an insane sounding laugh that shuddered the bones of everyone on board.

When he was finished, he began speak slowly and intently.

"This is far from over, boy. Far from over!" Derout said "You've forgotten one very important detail. _You're _on this ship too, you derelict, all of you are! Which means…this is the last time any of you will ever interfere with my plans again!"

He looked over the entire group, sadistic glee in all of his features.

"You'll all be eviscerated! Vaporized! But not me, oh no not me, not as long as I have my defense bubble!"

He focused slowly on Ron now, his features now a mask of hatred.

"You see boy? Do you see? You've lost! I will rebuild! I will continue my quest, and one day my dream will be realized! I will save the world! And no one, be it man or machine will be able to stop me!"

He finished his speech with a second laugh, this one even more eerie than the first.

He looked over at their faces. Their dark and defeated faces. They knew they were doomed. They knew now that, despite their best efforts, he had won in the end. They knew now that Adrian Derout always came out on top.

Always.

He looked back at the descending digital clock behind him:

**1:45**

He laughed again and looked back at his captives.

"If you have any last words, I suggest you say them now…while you all still have functioning respiratory systems."

"How about a question?" said a voice from behind him.

Before he could turn around, Derout felt a strong tugging sensation along his waist, followed by the unmistakable sound of a strap snapping in two.

By the time he had completely turned around he was met with the smug face of Dr. Drakken, now holding the device meant to generate his shield and his only means of protection.

Dr. Drakken flashed a mischievous grin at Derout.

"So Mr. Derout" he said. "Who's the moron, now?"

**II**

Gloating is a much anticipated activity for villains.

Nothing makes their hearts race faster than the look of shock and defeat on their foes faces as they realize they have been duped or a trap has been sprung and that they are now at the mercy of whoever has the upper hand.

And no one had more a wider window to gloat that Dr. Drakken as he watched the face of Adrian Derout stare back at him in disbelief, his eyes focused on his last source of protection dangling from the azure-hued man's fingertips.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold…but Drakken discovered that it is a dish made ripe at any temperature.

Derout continued to stare, wide-eyed and open mouthed.

"I – I don't understand." He stammered. "How?"

Drakken smiled. His felt his skin stretch as his grin covered his entire face.

"What's the matter, Derout? Is the "Supreme Genius" and the "New Messiah" really at a loss for an explanation?"

Drakken's answer was the blank and vacant stare on Derout's face.

"Well then, allow me to enlighten you." Drakken continued. "When you had Shego and I go over the blueprints to Project Pegasus we learned that, if you'll recall, the entire craft relies on the properties of _magnetism."_

Drakken's smile (if possible) grew bigger.

"Do you remember what you said when I mentioned that? I believe it was something to the extent of: "My good Doctor, I hardly think it necessary for you to waste your talents on such trivial matters." Drakken said, putting on an astonishingly good Derout imitation.

Derout, still too shocked to speak, said nothing.

Drakken continued. "If you also recall, Dr. Herschels robots run on the same magnetic principle, I believe you said that they use magnetic waves to communicate with each other."

Drakken motioned to a heap of mechanical odds and ends and the base of his feet.

"All it took was a matter of inverting the poles of this robots magnetic inhibitor to turn it into a bona fide magnet…one that, as you can see, has now left you _defenseless!"_

Drakken narrowed his eyes at his European nemesis, the sting of his previous words still lingering in his heart.

"So Mr. Consultant" he said. "How do you like them apples?"

Silence.

Nothing but silence.

All was calm on the western front, if you will, as the two foes stared face to face. The eyes of the victor bore into the soul of the loser, as the Englishman dropped to his knees.

Derout looked up at Drakken, the last of his ego withering away in his person like a fern in the desert.

His voice was hesitant and nervous when he finally spoke:

"What happens now?"

Derout's question was answered almost immediately, and not by the person of which it was asked:

"Payback."

Derout barely had time to turn around before the lime green boot struck him square in the face with the force of a charging rhinoceros. The would-be megalomaniac was out cold before his head even reached the floor.

**III**

The next few moments aboard the command center of the airship dubbed Project Pegasus were happy ones.

Both of our modern day Archimedes were greeted with awed stares and claps on the back. In fact, even though it is to be expected that it will be denied, both members of the diabolical duo shared their second embrace for the day, this one considerably longer the first.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, the two teenagers wrapped their arms around each other like the good friends they were and, if you were in a fifteen meter radius of them, you could feel the happiness and relief emanating from them like a jubilant radiation.

"Ron" the auburn-haired vixen breathed. Her eyes were still aglow with admiration for the bout of intelligence they had just witnessed. "You were amazing."

Her freckled counterpart smiled humbly and ran his fingers through his straw-colored hair.

"What can I say? I had an extra helping of orange juice today."

She laughed and embraced him again this time snuggling her head into his chest. Her next words were so soft they were almost inaudible, yet their meaning rang throughout Ron Stoppable's heart like the ringing of bells.

"My hero."

The young boy blushed a shade of scarlet that would make a cardinal green with envy, yet his smile shone as bright as the mid morning sun. He slowly lifted up his arms and wrapped them around her waist, savoring every moment of this blissful interaction.

They remained there a few moments more, two statues on an altar, frozen in their own happiness. So happy were they that could've died and gone to heaven right then and there and neither would have noticed the difference.

"Stoppable" a voice cried from across the room. "Catch."

Ron looked up just in time to safely snatch the object thrown by Dr. Drakken in the palm of his left hand. Upon further inspection, he discovered that it was the very device that had been stripped from the waist of Adrian Derout only moments before.

"Why don't you hold onto that?" Drakken said. "I'm sure your friends at the research center will be glad to see it."

Suddenly, and with much disappointment to the boy she was embracing, Kim released her friend to turn and face the man she had battled so many times before.

"Did I hear you correctly, Dr. Drakken?" She asked with a bemused little smile on her face. "You're actually going to _return _something?"

Shego chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "Dr. D and I figured we both have had enough villainy for one day." Her face turned suddenly sour. "But don't get too used to the freebies there, cupcake, come tomorrow all bets are off."

Kim returned her stern look with one of pure competitor's anticipation.

"Looking forward to it."

Then, a voice that had been heard so little throughout the entire ordeal that it caused a minor shock when it was heard rang throughout the command center in an Austrian accent:

"I really don't mean to put a damper on everyone's spirit…" Dr. Bortel said. "…but we still need to find a way off this ship before we are blown to smithereens!"

Everyone grew quiet. In all of their excitement of defeating Derout that had forgotten that they still needed a way off the ship.

Everyone looked around for an answer…only to be met with sullen and confused stares.

Then, like the trumpets of the angels, a sound rang out from the pockets of Ron Stoppable that salvation for the entire group.

"Stoppable, come in" came the unmistakable gruff voice of David Gedden over the radio he had given to Ron. "I repeat. Stoppable, do you read me?"

Ron reached into the pockets of his jeans (and for the fifth time that day curse them for being so tight) and withdrew the radio transceiver. Pressing the call-in button, he responded with valor and gusto:

"This is Ron Stoppable reporting." The tow-headed youth said. "And I am pleased to announce that the forecast for the following days includes blue sky, sunshine, and zero percent chance of total annihilation."

The unmistakable uproar of celebration began to waft through the other side of the transceiver.

"I'll be damned Stoppable." Gedden's voice responded. "I didn't think you could do it. And I want to thank you a million times over for proving me wrong!"

Ron beamed as he spoke into the transceiver once more:

"Thank you sir, but I don't think we're out of the woods yet." Ron took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry sir, but I couldn't stop the missile from launching, so I had to redirect its course…it should be safely colliding with Project Pegasus in a matter of minutes."

A sharp intake of breath could be heard on the other line. Clearly, General Gedden was not happy with the missiles new intended target.

Ron continued: "Sir, we need to get off this as quickly as possible. _Please _tell me you guys sprang for the Escape Pod expansion pack."

There was a moment of silence on the other line (it is assumed to be the result of the Genreal mourning the loss of his beloved trinket) before finally Gedden's voice rang out in reply:

"There should be a small evacuation vessel on the north wall." He said. "Once inside it, simply press the red button and it should take you home."

A communal sigh of relief reverberated around the hull of the ship.

"Oh thank the naco!" Ron gasped. "Sir, I am sure I speak for all six of us when I say thanks for the info!"

The sound or a sharp gasp and a dull thud were his only response:

No one on the ship moved. Hell, they barely even breathed.

A few moments later, the General's voice rang out again in a shaky pitch.

"How – how many did you say?"

Suddenly nervous, Ron did a recount of the room: Drakken and Shego, Bortel and Derout, and he and Kim all made six.

'Six, sir." The boy repeated, his voice now shaking too.

A horrid sounding groan escaped the on the sound waves of the transceiver causing the nervousness of the entire ship's cabin to spike considerably.

"Oh God." Gedden's voice said. "Oh please God, no."

Now borderline terrified, Ron shouted into the receiver:

"What? What? Don't leave us hanging, dude, tell us what's up!"

A loud gulp could be heard on the other end before Gedden's voice continued.

"Project Pegasus was never supposed heavily manned…It was mostly automated! There was never any intention to have more than two actual humans on it!"

Dread enveloped Ron like ghastly fog.

"General?" He asked. "What exactly are you getting act."

His reply was full to the brim with sadness, a voice that would have been perfectly comfortable reciting the works of Poe:

"I'm getting at the fact that there is only _one _escape pod." He said. "And it can only fit four!"

**To Be Continued**

Ok so, do you guys remember when I said there would only be like three chapters left? Welllllll…slight change of plans. I haven't added any new content to the ending, mind you, I'm just fragmenting it differently than originally planned. But you all have my solemn vow that this will not be any more than fifteen chapters…maybe.

All the best,

Everhere Everthere

P.S. By the way, if I don't get at least ten reviews on this chapter I'm not continuing the story!

P.S.S. I'm totally kidding…I actually happen to think that that would be a tremendously douche move on my part…so no worries there! (Although if I _did _get at least ten reviews you wouldn't receive a complaint from me.)


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Kim Possible belongs to the Disney Corporation…not me.

**Chapter 13**

**I**

There is a book, a very classic one at that, gracing the shelves of bookstores and libraries everywhere called _Lord of the Flies _by William Golding. The book uses an allegorical method of storytelling, using as an example a group of young schoolboys trapped on a deserted island, to convey the message that the civilized nature of man fails when technology is not there to accompany you.

Try and imagine, if you will, the mindset of these boys when they ran out of food. Try to imagine how these young boys, most of them no older than twelve discovered that for most to survive…some must be sacrificed.

What, do you suppose, was going through their minds? Did they begin to pick out which of their friends was the weakest? Which ones had the most meat? Who would put up the least of a fight? How did it affect their mindset when they began to stop viewing their human comrades as friends…and start viewing them as…competitors. How did they react when they discovered they were now like sentries of sperm, racing against each other for the prize of life?

I ask this not to dazzle you with knowledge of early twentieth century literature, but to try my best to convey the thoughts that were now floating in the heads of the passengers aboard Project Pegasus as their certain doom ticked away behind them like the hands of a clock.

What are they to do now? Do they keep their cool and try and formulate a plan? Or do they call upon their animalistic instincts and vie for survival?

The next few moments aboard the airship tell the tale:

**II**

Kim looked from person to person, her adrenaline pumping beneath her like a surging river.

Part of her instincts told her to leave Derout behind and save one extra person on the ship. It was, after all, his doing that had placed them in this sitch. It was his vile agenda that had doomed at least two people, so it was only fitting that one of the sacrificial lambs be him.

But Kim knew she would never allow that to happen. Her conscience was as big as an ocean and, had she left the madman to die, it would plague her soul for the rest of her days.

She knew what the outcome was to be…she knew it from the word Go. It wasn't a hard outcome to figure, at any rate. A hero's path is just as predictable as it is noble.

"Shego." She said "You three take Derout aboard the escape pod and go. And make sure he is handed over to the correct authorities once you land."

Shego could only stare.

It was true that she was a villainess. This is a fact not to be disputed. Some might even say she was rotten to the core. But even she, a woman had committed more thefts than a Depression-era anti hero, hesitated after hearing the command her teen nemesis had given her.

Her brain was instantly turned into a war zone, her light and dark sides battling over the result of her decision. On the one hand she was safe and free to breathe the sweet open air of planet Earth for another day. But…at what cost? The lives of two young people who had, in all honesty, done nothing but good deeds their entire lives? Where was the justice in that?

Shego knew better than anyone that this was not a fair world…but surely this was too much.

Decisions…Decisions.

Life…or a clean moral conscience?

What to choose…what to choose….

In an ideal world, life altering decisions like this would be accompanied with a plethora of time to mull it over.

But, as we knew all along, an ideal world this is not…and Shego had little over a minute to make her decision.

The snap has been made…now it's time for the play.

Her tongue was paralyzed…her mind frozen. How could anyone _possibly _make a decision like this? Even bad guys had a conscience…What could she do?

What could she do?

Thankfully, it was Kim that broke the silence. Her words were accompanied by a sincere smile.

'Shego, listen to me" said the hero. "You have to go. Don't worry about Ron and I…we'll figure something out. We always do."

Shego, not being able to bear her conflicting conscience any longer, slowly nodded and, without speaking, dragged Derout into the pod Drakken and Bortel following suit.

She closed the door in front of her making a dull, clasping thud. She looked out the window at the two people she considered her greatest enemies, and hoped, harder than she had ever hoped in her life that they would make it back, safe and sound."

Finally, with a forced smile and a sloppy salute, Shego pressed the bright red button and jettisoned them into the atmosphere and to safety.

**III**

He watched the pod, and its passengers, grow infinitely smaller as it made its descent toward the Earth and to safety. The further away it got, the more he was certain that he was doomed.

He turned to the red haired female beside him and chuckled nervously.

"You don't really have a plan, do you?"

She turned to him and smiled.

"They wouldn't have left any other way."

He scoffed.

"Drakken and Shego? I can't imagine they would need too much persuasion."

She ginned, ever so slightly, and shook her head.

"You didn't see Shego's face. For once, I think I actually saw some humanity on that mug of hers. It looked good on her."

She turned to her right to stare at the blinking LED clock.

**1:25**

She turned back to him, with a strange look in her eyes. Was it sadness? No. Not quite. More like... regret.

"Ron?" she asked him.

"Yes?"

"Is this really the end?"

Upon looking into her eyes, those beautiful emerald eyes, he almost couldn't bear to answer her. He feared that if he told her what he actually thought…those perfect eyes would swell with tears and their beauty would bubble out.

So, instead, he took her in his arms and held her. She did not object. In fact, she embraced him in return, and the two were once again stoic statues. They were once again in total nirvana within the presence of one another.

"I can't believe it" she said. "I can't believe this is really it. After all the things we've been through…it's so surreal to find out or numbers finally up."

He felt her look up at him, but he did not see. He left his eyes shut. He wanted this memory grained into his head until the very end.

"If this is really the end…I'm glad I have you with me, Ron Stoppable."

He still said nothing. He was certain his speaking would ruin the moment…just as it had ruined so many things before.

"I have only regret" she continued "and that's that I had so little time to truly spend…with you. All I really want is a chance to go back, you know? To the beginning…"

His chocolate brown eyes opened in alert. He suddenly had the answer.

He took her arm and began to drag her to the rear of the ship.

"Come with me."

She hesitated. After several years of being the person in charge, her brain was weary to give up the commanding seat to someone else.

"Ron…what are you talking about? Come with you where?"

He smiled and continued to pull her…to the direction of the big window.

"Right where you suggested, Kim…the beginning."

She flat out stopped at this comment. If there was one thing Kim Possible couldn't tolerate it was an unclear answer.

"What in the _hell _are you talking about? The beginning of what?"

He smiled as he propped open the window.

"How, exactly, do you think I got up here in the first place?"

**IV**

As soon as the Pod landed safely in the landing bay, Rufus was eagerly propped on his haunches at the threshold of the door, eager to see his human and his friend, Kim, returned safely.

You can imagine the tiny rodent's surprise when not his friends, but their two archenemies, an unconscious maniac, and an eccentric scientist walked out of the door.

The naked mole rat's entire body seemed to sag with disappointment.

Where was his human?

His body suddenly began to shake as the thudding footsteps of General Gedden loomed over behind him.

The General faced the party with a look that was most unwelcome.

"Well…thank the Lord and Sunny Jesus the _bad guys _made it home in one piece."

"I resent that claim." Said Dr. Bortel.

The General waved his hand.

"Whatever." He turned to Shego. It was obvious to him in an instant who the brains of the group was.

"So…you left the two _children _up there to die, huh? How very noble of you."

Shego raised her right hand and formed into the rudest gesture she could think of.

"Shut it, Apocalypse Now" she spat. "For your information, Princess _told _us to leave them behind…they said they would find a way of themselves."

The General scoffed.

"Right…what do you expect them to do? Flap their arms a lot?"

Shego retaliation hovered on the tip of her tongue, but was interrupted by the voice of her employer on her left.

"They'll find a way" Drakken said. "They'll find a way."

General Gedden raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And what makes you so sure?"

For a moment, Drakken didn't answer. Instead he just stared pensively out the window, looking upward, as if expecting the sky to open up and an army of Patrick Dempsey's wearing pirate hats to come pouring out of the opening.

After a moment that seemed like an eternity he spoke:

"Because General, the truth is that, despite what I've said before, Kim Possible really is…all that."

**V**

If you've been on the outside hull of an experimental aircraft hovering above the Earth's crust at over 40,000 feet (which I can almost guarantee that you have not) then you know firsthand that it's not the height, but the sheer _openness _of your surroundings that drives your vertigo off the charts.

It was that feeling of having nothing behind, below, or beside Kim Possible that was, for the first time that she could remember, making her knees quake with fear.

In fact, the only thing that was keeping her from losing it, was her sense of perplexity as to why her tow-headed sidekick hadn't consented to shiver since they had climbed out the window onto this sheer precipice.

She looked back at him and half way smiled.

'You're being awfully calm about all of this."

He returned the smile.

"I've had practice." He said. His tone became more serious. "You're doing great, Kim Just imagine yourself walking along a nice, safe, perfectly level sidewalk. We don't have far to go.""

Kim couldn't help but smile at herself as she continued to shimmy along the ship.

_Ron Stoppable is telling _me _to relax? Now I've seen everything._

Yes.

Now she really believed she _had _seen everything.

The truth of it was that, despite her current condition, she couldn't believe how much her best friend had grown in past few hours. One minute he running screaming from a monkey…and the next he was saving the world. By himself.

She chuckled quietly to herself.

_His mom would be so proud._

She continued inching her way along the metal siding, the fight to keep her vertigo at bay getting harder and harder by the minute.

She was coming close to panic, and she knew that, if she did that…then it would all be over.

She briefly thought of the old Wile E. Coyote cartoons she had watched with Ron as a kid. She remembered how, whenever the Wile's plot to catch the Roadrunner would fail, it would often result in him being flung off of a cliff, the sound of a whistle narrating his descent, followed by a faint thud and cloud of smoke as he hit the ground.

She looked over her shoulder into the impossible abyss that was her surroundings. She realized that she couldn't even see the ground through the clouds.

She gulped.

_Too bad our lives aren't more like cartoons._

A voice from behind her pulled her from her thoughts.

"Hey…Kim?" Ron asked.

She answered him without turning around.

"Yes?"

"About today…in the cafeteria…" he began. "Well…I was a grade A jerk…and I want you to know that I'm sorry and that…well…you really deserve better than that in a friend."

Kim, usually the level headed one of the group, did something right then and there that would make even the most impulsive man in the world break a sweat.

She stopped.

Miles above the ground...A missile on a direct collision with the pair of them…and a ticking clock counting down the moments they had left on this world…and she stopped.

So suddenly, in fact, that Ron almost ran into the back of her.

"Hey, what gives?" He said. His voice a perfect blend of shock and worry.

"Ronald Dean Stoppable." She said "You have impressed me to no end today with your use of your intelligence…but if you're going to continue to say moronic, buffoonish things like that then I will be forced kick you in the teeth."

Ron did a double take.

Kim continued: "Ron, I am going to tell you, right here and now, that there is no one, _NO ONE, _I would have rather gone to pre-school with, ate lunch with, and _lived life _with the last ten years of my life than you. And nothing, not even a manipulated speech from a she-devil, is going to change my mind."

She turned to face him.

"Now…is that clear?"

His remained frozen for a moment…but quickly softened into a smile.

"Crystal."

She smiled back.

"Good…now unless I'm mistaken…" she said motioning with her right hand "our fabulous getaway car is hovering about a ten feet in front of us."

**VI**

The bespectacled techie, Lloyd Mankowitz, tried, for what felt like the millionth time, the well-memorized ABORT SYSTEM key code sequence into the Rutherford Hayes Research Center mainframe.

And, for what felt like the millionth time, the same five-letter word blinked at him incessantly:

**ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR**

And then, for what felt like the millionth time , he pounded the keyboard in frustration.

The sound must have alerted the General because he was hovering over him in a flash.

"Anything?" he asked desperately.

The techie sadly shook his head.

"Nothing."

The General sighed (for what felt like the millionth time) and returned to his spot at the window. He averted his gaze back to the same patch of sky he had been staring at for what felt like an eternity.

"Then…we've done all we can do…The rest is up to God."

**VII**

Gingerly, and with as much care as she could muster, Kim Possible lowered herself into the tiny transport rocket that had blasted her friend up here to begin with.

As soon she had settled herself in, she looked up at her friend, who was still hanging from the side of the ship like the very primates he so viciously despised.

He smiled at her.

"Comfy?"

She smiled back.

"Snug as a bug in a rug."

She reached over, almost without thinking, and fastened her seat belt.

Standard procedure. Almost as natural as breathing to her.

And suddenly something felt horribly, horribly wrong.

She was suddenly aware of the insanely claustrophobic feel of the rocket.

"Um Ron?" she asked. "How are you going to fit in here?"

Ron's face suddenly became the epitome of contradiction. His mouth seemed to smile in happiness…but his eyes, those wonderful, chocolate-brown eyes, were a maelstrom of sadness.

"Well…that's the thing Kim…I'm…_not going_ to fit in it."

Kim's heart stopped. He brain suddenly went into overdrive praying she had heard him wrong.

"R-Ron…what are you saying?"

This time, instead of answering her verbally, he withdrew a remote from his pocket and pressed a button causing the door of the rocket to slam shut, so that now he was only visible through the window. He leaned his face closer in, so that he was now positively dangling from the side of the ship.

"I'm not getting on the rocket, Kim…I'm afraid you're going to have make this flight a solo one."

She looked into his eyes, trying to find some sense into this madness she was hearing. But all she could find was sadness…regret…and perhaps the most resolve she had ever seen in any persons eyes before.

She immediately began to feel around the inside of her cylindrical prison, desperately trying to find a latch that would release her, desperately trying to find a way out...

…she found nothing.

She realized then, that this had been his plan from the start. This is the reason that he had insisted she was to be the first one out the window, this is the reason that he insisted she get in the rocket first. He knew that she would never willingly let him sacrifice himself for her…never in a million years.

Yes…He knew her very well.

But…there was one thing he didn't know…

He had no idea, that she would rather die a thousand deaths…than live one life without him in it.

She looked up at him, her green eyes swimming with tears, and tried, one last time, to reason with him:

"Ron" she begged. "Please…don't do this."

He smiled, just a little, yet his eyes were still grim.

"Kim, don't you realize how valuable you are? You have saved the world more times than I can count and you still manage to keep a 4.0 GPA. If you weren't around then maniacs like Derout would take over the world on a daily basis."

She gripped at the window of the rocket, trying in vain to hold his face, to caress his cheek…but, of course, she could not.

"But Ron…_You _stopped Derout, not me! _You _were the hero, this time. You amazed me and everyone else on board with your quick thinking and your bravery!"

He laughed a little at this. But only a little.

"One good day does a not a hero make." He said. "Kim, don't you see? You're too important to be blown up like some lab rat. The world needs you, Kim."

"_I DON'T _CARE _WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS!" _She exploded, the tears running down her face in waterfalls. "I don't care what _ANYONE _needs! All I care about is what _I _need…and I need _you, _Ron Stoppable." She took a breath and wiped her eyes. She then attempted a smile through her tear streaked demeanor.

"I love you, Ron."

He seemed to freeze then, out there in the atmosphere, dangling like bait on a hook. He seemed to freeze up entirely. He turned away from her, his body rigid…and then…he softened. And when he turned to look back at her…he had tears of his own streaming from eyes.

"Only in my wildest dreams…" he choked "…did I ever imagine you would say those words."

She smiled back at him, hope somewhat returning to her body.

"It's true, Ron. Every bit of it. I love you…I _love _you! I love you so much that the simple thought of never seeing you again is tearing me up inside..."

Their eyes met once again, emerald green and chocolate brown, both cooling in a shroud of tears, locked in place, solidifying the love between their two owners like a diamond.

"Please, Ron…Please…don't leave me."

He wiped the tears from his eyes, and stroked the side of the rocket, imagining, to the best of his abilities, that he was stroking her face.

"And I won't, Kim. I'll never leave you…not really." The tears came suddenly to him again, making his speech even harder to deliver. But he wiped them away.

This was something that needed to be said.

"…But it is _because _I love you that I have to let you go. And I do love you, Kim…so, so very much…and it is for that reason that I have to do this. You have to live, Kim. You _have _to. For you…and for me. You have to get married…have children…grow old…have grandchildren…you _deserve _all of that. You _deserve _to be happy."

He smiled at her.

"And I promise you this…no matter where I'm going…I _will _see you again."

He drew away from the ship then, the remote in hand, and returned to his perch on the side of the ship. He looked at her, one more time, his face soaked with tears and gave her a little wave.

"Goodbye, Kim." He said. "And thank you…for giving me the pleasure of knowing you."

And, from inside her metal casing, Kim managed to smile back at him, her face, and her soul, releasing a cacophony of tears.

"The pleasures all mine." She said.

And it was then, with both of their hearts as heavy as lead, Ron Stoppable pressed the button with his thumb and sent the love of his life, sobbing and screaming, to safety far below.

**VII**

The entire occupancy of the Rutherford Hayes Research Center snapped at attention when the blinking red dot appeared on the dash in front of Lloyd Mankowitz.

The young techie stared up in surprise. This is certainly not what he was expecting.

"I don't believe it…" He breathed, excitement rising in his chest. "I don't _frigging _believe it!"

Instantly, General Gedden, Shego, Drakken, Bortel, and Rufus were at the techie's side.

"What's happened?" General Gedden barked.

"You're not going to believe it, sir!" Mankowitz exclaimed. "But the shuttle we sent Stoppable up in has sent in a request to land! They made it, General! They both made it!"

Instantly, the base erupted in a sea of cheers.

"I'll be goddamned!" The General shouted over the noise. "Those kids _did it!"_

"I never knew sidekick had it him." Shego said.

"Nor I" said Dr. Drakken. "He always seemed to be quite buffoonish to me."

"I concur." Said Dr. Bortel.

And Rufus? Rufus said nothing. He simply waited at the landing zone of the rocket like a vigilant pet…waiting for his master to return.

**VIII**

Falling.

She was falling.

Falling down.

Down.

Down.

Down.

And not just physically, oh God no, not just physically…but mentally and emotionally as well.

As her ship plummeted downwards to safety all she could think about was how she was now just as dead as the only man she had ever loved and the same man she had left behind.

_Why? _She screamed inside her head. _Why? Why? Why?_

It wasn't fair. It wasn't FAIR! Ron had never hurt anybody! Why should have to be the one to pay for the sins of another?

And why, Oh dear sweet Jesus why, had he left her?

_Why?_

The same monosyllabic word continued to ring through her head and erupt from her mouth even after the ship had struck inside the research center and open it's casing automatically.

She fell out of the rocket, sobbing uncontrollably, into the arms of a shocked and bewildered General Gedden.

**IX**

"Possible!?" He exclaimed in shock, as he tried to steady the hysterical teenager. "What's gotten into you!? And where's Stoppable?"

Her answers came in quick, gasping breaths, in between her sobs.

"…Still up there…stayed behind…have to get him down…please…General…I love him…have to get him down…"

General Gedden was a man trained to think on his feet…but nothing could have ever prepared him for this.

"Stoppable's still up there?" he asked stupidly.

The young girl clutching his chest and continuing to sob was his only response.

General Gedden, kindly returned the embrace and looked over at his techie.

"Mankowitz" he said, his usual barking quality of his voice absent, a new, sad, sympathetic voice now in its place. "Please tell me there's something we can do."

The young techie's solemn face was all the answer Gedden needed, yet he spoke anyway:

"No…I…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry."

The young girl clutched the General's chest even harder and her sobs grew louder.

The, like a step in a macabre dance, all occupants of the Ruherford Hayes Research Center looked at the ticking clock to their left.

**5**

They all hung their heads, those with hats removed them in respect.

**4**

Shego turned her head into Drakken's chest, the sadness engulfing even her, and he responded by placing an arm around her shoulder.

**3**

Rufus fell onto his hunches…and then flat on the ground…the shock of finding out he would never see his human again still immobilizing his brain…yet the tears came anyway.

**2**

General Gedden removed his own hat and placed it over his heart…and then, for the first time in what seemed like forever, a single tear fell from his eye and landed on his Medal of Honor.

**1**

Kim Possible released her grip on the General and looked outside towards the silo bay and watched the missile launch from its resting his place. She wailed his name in destitute agony as she watched it climb higher and higher…and finally…make contact with its target.

**To Be Continued**

Ok, let me start off by saying this…I know. This is some pretty depressing stuff.

But…before you start throwing full wine bottles at your computer screen let me remind you that the story is not yet over…

And that is all I have to say about that…I implore you continue reading and reviewing, until you see the THE END.

Thank you,

Everhere Everthere


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not, nor have I ever, been an owner of any of the rights to Kim Possible or any of its characters.

**Chapter 14**

The explosion, like most deadly and powerful things, was immense and beautiful.

The minute the missile exploded into the hull of Project Pegasus the sky was alit with the most breath taking colors of orange and red, the likes of which most people on Earth had never seen. The sky was like a Van Gogh painting, all the swirl of the smoke and debris giving it a fabulous texture. The cumulus and stratus formations of the clouds blended in to it as well, giving it a fabulous 3-D effect. Indeed, it created a sight that most people would talk about for generations to come.

However, despite the fact that almost everyone in the Washington D.C area had their eyes fixed upon the sky, only one noticed the peculiar anomaly (besides the enormous explosion) that occurred in the D.C. sky.

His name was Sayid al Jazzerah, an Arabian immigrant who had moved to these great United States in March of 2002. He had been told many great things about this wonderful country from villagers in his hometown of Sultana in Yemen. He had been hoarding his money like miser for years and then finally, on his twenty-first birthday; he had flown to America to start a new life for himself.

Upon arriving however, he discovered that America was not the "Land of Equality" that he had been promised.

Ever since the events of September 11th, 2001, people like Sayid had it rough living in America. Arabs in general were viciously persecuted. Many memories of being called a "terrorist" and "dirty Muslim" still rang through Sayid's ears with the clarity of a bullhorn.

The ironic truth of it all being that Sayid, though he lived in Yemen and was of Middle Eastern descent, was not a Muslim at all. As a matter of fact, he had been raised a Methodist. Every Sunday in Yemen his American born mother would teach he and his brother the teachings of Jesus Christ in his family's kitchen while his Arabian father would be out gathering groceries for their dinner.

But all of that didn't matter much to these people. All they had to go on was what they saw…and what they saw…they didn't like.

So Sayid trained himself to live with the racism and persecutions that were thrown his way. He trained his ears to turn off whenever the insults were slung and his tongue to keep quiet whenever a repost quivered on its tip.

But most of all he trained his eyes. He trained his eyes, not only to scout his surroundings for possible attacks by the "promising youth" of the D.C. area…but to really tune in to the true beauty of this great land. Sayid's eyes would look beyond the hatred and the fears of his fellow American's and look on the beautiful face of his new home.

Instead of seeing hateful messages written in graffiti on the side of his home, he was able to see hymns of hope. In the glaring of eyes of children in front of him at the supermarket he saw the sparkling and innocent youth he knew to be hidden away in their hearts.

Yes…of all his attributes…it was Sayid's eyes that were by far the greatest.

So good were his eyes, that it's really no surprise at all that he was only one to see the brief flash of green falling the red-orange masterpiece that was the explosion.

Nope. No surprise at all.

The flash was no more than a millisecond long…in fact, for a short while, Sayid was unsure if he had seen anything at all.

It was the damndest thing.

As he continued to gaze at the beautiful, smoking sky he allowed his mind to wander on the subject of the strange green flash.

_Did I imagine it? Was it just a trick of the light?_

_Or was it…a sign?_

_And if it was…a sign of what?_

Sayid didn't know, and he assumed he never would.

If there is one thing he learned while living in America is what that some of the best questions will always be left unanswered.

And Sayid had learned to make peace with that.

And, although he still had no idea what to make of the strange green flash, the mere _thought _of having seen it made him feel safer than he had in a long, long time.

Even though he didn't know why.

But one he knew for certain as he averted his eyes from the sky and began to trek back to his apartment. One thing and one thing only.

_There are brighter days ahead, Sayid._

_I can feel it. _

He smiled to himself as he crossed the threshold into his apartment to prepare himself for the most relaxing and deepest sleep he would have in weeks.

**II**

Chester McGinnis, a thritysomething year old homeless man, had a reputation for being a crazy old drunk. Even in a big city like Washington, people knew to take anything Chester said with a pillar of salt.

So when the crazy old hobo came running down 6th street, prattling on about some alien he had seen rising from a crater in a field somewhere off to the east, no one gave it a second thought.

All of them were still very happy (and very lucky) to be alive.

And they weren't about to let the ranting of some lunatic ruin their celebration.

Besides…who had ever heard of an extraterrestrial with blonde hair?

**II**

_Past the tongue,_

_Over the gums,_

_Look out tummy,_

_Here it comes!_

A simple childhood schoolyard rhyme convoluted into adult themes when the contents in question, you know, the ones that are traveling past the tongue, the gums, and to the tummy, are actually a three and a half shots of brandy that had been stored in the Rutherford Hayes botanic greenhouse for the past seven years.

As the alcohol went down through General Gedden's body (already starting to give his head that signature "woozy" feeling) he began to wonder why he had given up drinking in the first place.

Already the pain was starting to numb

He looked down into his empty shot glass, expecting to find a tarnished glass bottom with maybe a little bit of leftover brandy coagulating in the corner. What he actually saw surprised him.

What he saw in the bottom of that dingy, old shot glass was the warped and twisted visage of an otherwise broken man. He could see every single crease of self pity along the lines in his face, along with the vacant expression of a whole new level of woe.

General Gedden shook his head, as an attempt to clear it:

_Damn…I guess, I need to lay off the liquids a bit._

He looked around the command center of the Rutherford Hayes Research Center. Even though the brandy had been brought up (by some hapless new grunt that would jump at the chance for any excuse to get hammered) as a cause for celebration, no one seemed to be in the spirit of celebrating. All around the room General Gedden saw masks of defeat…even though they had every right to feel victorious.

But, he couldn't really blame them. He didn't feel that there was much cause for celebration either.

He set the glass down on an end table to his right, and closed his eyes. Back in his days as an alcoholic, he would often do this as attempt to trick his brain that he was "dumping" all the toxins from the alcohol out on the floor next to him. Usually, it worked.

Usually.

He opened his eyes again and looked over to the door on his right. It had been about fifteen minutes ago that a doctor, whom Gedden didn't catch the name of, carry the sobbing, hysterical redhead into that room to give her a mild sedative.

"To calm her nerves" the doctor had said.

General Gedden scoffed at the idea.

_No amount of anything is going to calm that girl down._

The General shook his head again. It broke his heart, really, to see someone suffer like that. After almost a lifetime of servitude in the army, and his participation in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the General knew almost everything there was to know about loss…and one thing that he could always be sure off, no matter who it was, was that, it never, ever, everevereververeverever…seemed fair.

And Lord knows…it never was.

Gedden turned his focus away from the door, and called over to the techie whom had earned a great deal of his trust in the past twenty-four hours.

"Mankowitz!" he called. "You got a sec?"

Mankowitz was over there in a flash.

_Always prompt, that Mankowitz…he would make an outstanding soldier._

"Yes, General?" he asked.

"Have the necessary procedures been taking regarding the boys demise?" he asked him, stoically.

The young techie looked confuse.

"Sir…the boy's body would have been completely vaporized…I don't think burial is an option."

The General sighed.

_Prompt…but not too bright._

"I don't mean that" the General said. "I'm talking about his family. Have they been notified of his…passing?" The Generals voice almost flatered on that last word, but he kept it steady.

Mankowitz's face began to droop.

"No, sir, not yet." He said. "Truth be told, we were actually hoping Ms. Possible would take care of that."

Genral Gedden rounded on him.

"For God's sakes man, don't you think that girl has been through enough?"

Mankowitz'z posture quivered a little.

"We understand that sir…it's just that…well, we figured she would _want _to do it. You know, to help with the closure."

General Gedden paused.

The young techie had a point. He supposed in the long run it _would _be better for Possible to make the call…it would be easier on her, and everyone, if she could put the whole ordeal to bed.

"All right." the General conceded. "But not now. God knows, the poor kid needs some time on her own."

Mankowitz nodded and returned to his post.

The General sighed again, today had certainly been one hell of a day…and something in his gut told him it was far from over.

He was just about to leave when a eerie, English, voice piped up from behind him.

"Pardon me, General." It said. "But why not let _me _to the honors of contacting Stoppable's mummy and daddy? I'm sure we will have _much _to talk about."

General Gedden froze. He would recognize that voice anywhere.

_Looks like the maniac's awake._

He turned on his feel to find out that his suspicions were true. There, leaning next to the same door that Kim Possible had been ushered through only moments ago, stood the smiling and smug face of Adrian Derout.

General Gedden contorted his face into a mask of rage and hatred.

"I thought all the trash was collected at noon today." The General said. "Looks like I'll have to issue a complaint."

Derout laughed.

"Oh very biting sarcasm there, Genreal, truly top notch." He said. "But, in all seriousness, why not let me call the buffoon's parents?" He flashed the General a wicked smile. "I promise not to pare them any of the _gruesome _details_."_

The General's jaw clenched. He had never before, in his entire military career, had he wanted to silence someone with a pistol as much as he did at this moment.

_Keep it steady, Dave. Don't stoop to his level._

The General turned over his shoulder.

"I need someone to transport this scumbag into the holding area. STAT!"

Two burly men in white coats began making their way over to the scene.

But Derout was far from over.

"He was Jewish, wasn't he? Stoppable? My word, do you suppose those type of people have funerals? Well…I can't see much of a point in having won of course, seeing how there's no body to bury…"

The General balled his hands into fists .

_Where the _hell_ are my transporters?_

"Oh, I know!" Derout exclaimed. "Why don't I just tell them the little idiot _thought _himself to death? I'm certain they'll have been expecting that."

Finally, as if a grace from God, the two burly men arrived and began (much to the delight of the General) forcefully incapacitating and cuffing the Ennglisman, and began dragging him near the holding area.

General Gedden spat on the ground as he watched him go.

_If I'm lucky, maintenance will have forgotten to clear the holding area of rats. _The General thought to himself.

**IV**

As the two men burly men in the white coats dragged Adrian Derout to the holding area they noticed something very odd, something they would later add to their nightly reports.

Out of all the men the two had dragged down this hallway, he was by far the most calm.

In fact, he was smiling.

Adrian Derout had a smile that spread from ear to ear. And he had a very unusual _presence _about him…

…Like he had just accomplished something.

V

RHRC Security Guard Bernie Travers spit the last remnant of the chewing tobacco from his mouth and into the potted fern on his right. He then picked a small, circular tin out of his pocket and scooped up another fine sized clump of chewing tobacco and spread along his gums. Then, he returned to his original post of leaning against the wall.

He had done this same pattern of actions so much now, it was almost like a ritual.

The Rite of the Flaming Skoal, as he liked to call it.

He chortled to himself as he adjusted the belt around his waist. Like The Rite of the Flaming Skoal, this act was also very ritualistic, although this one stemmed from paranoia rather than a bad habit he had formed as a teenager.

You see, being a security guard at RHRC, required him to carry several items with him, in order to do his job adequately. Right now he had a walkie-talkie, his ID badge, his key ring, his good luck charm (a _five-leaf _clover, probably the only one in the world), a flashlight, a spare set of batteries for the flashlight (one could never be too careful) and his nine millimeter handgun all strapped to his belt at once.

Seven. Seven Items in all.

Quite an impressive load, even for a _responsible _security guard.

With all these things encumbering him, Bernie Travers was more than a little nervous about a w "wardrobe malfunction" while on duty.

Travers used his tongue to press the tobacco into his lower lip. The taste and slightly stinging pain this brought on sent a small flood of adrenaline into his chest. The feeling made his body quiver all over.

He sighed, smiled, and closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling to pass, then he started the whole process over again.

_The Rite of the Flaming Skoal continues…_

He chuckled to himself again as he went over to dispose of the bits of chew left in his mouth. He began to swash it all into a little bundle so that he could spit out an almost bullet-like substance.

Hey, the man's gotta keep himself entertained somehow.

He had just hocked a considerably large, tobacco filled, lougie into the potted fern when he heard a faint noise behind him.

He turned around, instantly on alert. Normally, he wouldn't be this cautious, the man hardly ever worried. But after the events of the past twenty-four hours, he assumed anything was possible.

He looked from his left…to his right.

Nothing.

Nothing but an empty hallway.

Tarvers shook his head.

_Goddamn, overtime. It's got me hearing things._

Travers reached into his pocket and withdrew his tin. He scooped up the remains of the tobacco in the can (there wasn't much) and put them in his mouth. Immediately he began to dig them into the lining of his gums.

He was just making a mental note to buy more tobacco on his way home from work when he heard another sound from behind him.

Again, he turned like a flash, his reflexes in their prime, and his eyes were now like a scanner or radar ready to catch any intruder.

Once again, however, there was nothing to be seen.

Travers shook his head and waved his hand. It had certainly been one hell of a day.

The sooner he could clock out, the better.

He returned to his spot by the wall and relaxed his body against it.

Once again, he pulled his belt, as he always did.

Just another one his habits, just another part of the ritual.

The four items that dangled from his waist clanged together as he continued with The Rite of the Flaming Skoal.

**V**

She made no sound as she crept the along the hallways of the RHRC, the carpeted hallways absorbing her every footfall.

She was like the wind. She made not a sound and she remained out of sight. It was a relatively easy for her to do.

One can't learn sixteen kinds of Kung-Fu and be and how to save the world without learning a little bit of discipline on the side.

And a _hell _of a lot of resolve.

A _hell _of a lot.

And she would need this resolve to keep her conscience at bay.

Because, now that it learned of the dark task that was now present in her heart, it was protesting heavily.

But she didn't care.

This was something that had to be done.

Kim Possible wiped a tear from her eye (just another one of many) as she recalled the events from a few moments before.

She had been sitting in the doctor's office. He had just given her a mild (or so he said) sedative to keep her hysterics under control.

And, while it reduce the heaves of her chest and the strength of her sobs, it did nothing to her tumultuous heart.

The pain. The loss. The hopelessness. Those were all still there.

And they were growing…growing with each passing minute.

Every second she thought of him…and all the moments he and her had shared…it was like more and more sections of her heart were being torn out.

She closed her eyes against the torrent of tears as she lay back on the bed, wanting nothing more to fall asleep.

And with that, escape from this unbearable world of pain and loss.

And, she most likely would have completed that too, had she not heard her name from outside the door.

She sat up in her bed. Her well trained ears focused on the voices coming from outside her door.

The voices had belonged to General Gedden and that young techie called Mankowitz. They had been discussing the matter of asking her to inform Ron's parents that he had…he had…

Kim shook her head. She still couldn't bear to let herself even _think _of the world.

She continued to listen. She heard the General acquiesce to the young techie's request of asking her to tell Ron's parents. She would, of course, agree. Ron had been her best friend her whole life…it would be better for her parents to hear the news from her rather than some stranger with a military demeanor.

But not now…please Lord, not now.

_Just let me sleep,_ she begged inside her head.

_Just let me sleep._

She heard the General tell the young techie to allow her some rest before making her make that ill fated call. She could've kissed him.

She had just about laid her head back down when she heard a second voice.

A voice which now made her very insides churn with hatred.

It was _him. _It was _his_ voice.

The man that was responsible for all of this. The man who had tried to destroy the world.

The man who had taken Ron away from her.

And she listened to him, listened to him run that hateful, despicable mouth of his.

She listened to him talk down on Ron and his family and his religion. He talked about the man she loved as if though he were just an imperfect little nuisance on the face of the Earth.

And her hatred grew.

Still, she probably could've forgiven him. Could've just ignored it, no matter how hard it was.

But when he had insulted his intelligence, talked about him like he was nothing more than a useless child and that his death meant virtually nothing, something inside of her had snapped.

She knew then that Adrian Derout had to be punished.

Consequences be damned.

She made her across the rest of the hallway, silent as the air around her, when she came upon the door she knew to be the one that Derout had been taken through.

Then, using the ID card she had stolen from a security guard, she quietly made her way down the hall to avenge the man she loved.

**VI**

Keith Dunwoody downed another swig of Good Ol' Jack Daniels down his throat and finished it off with a loud belch.

Drinking on the job had become quite a habit of Dunwoody's. Lord knows, it added a bit of life and excitement to the job.

He put the flask back into his pocket. Stumbling a little, he looked around the outskirts of the RHRC base he was supposed to be guarding.

"Guarding me arse," Dunwoody replied aloud, slurring every other word. "It's a big gray building in the middle of bloody nowhere! What's it need _guarding _for?"

The voice from behind him startled him into almost a catatonic state.

"Probably so that terrorist attacks like the one a few hours ago won't happen again."

Dunwoody turned around to apprehend the mysterious stranger. Even under the influence, Dunwoody knew that the primary focus of his job was to keep curious (and apparently opinionated) tourists away from the base.

When he turned to look in the face of the stranger however, his knees went as weak as jelly and his face turned as white as a sheet.

_No! It can't be!_

The figure in front of him, either not noticing or not caring about Dunwoody's sudden state of alarm, raised an eyebrow.

"So," it said. "You gonna let me in, or what?"

Dunwoody could only stare.

Normally a request like that would have merited a swat from a nightstick or a shot from a taser. But the person standing in front of him couldn't be there. He simply _couldn't_ be.

Finally, out of either fear or sheer confusion, Dunwoody stepped aside and the young man pass through the giant circular door of the RHRC.

The figure smiled and walked past him, shouting out a barely audible goodbye along the way.

And then the door closed behind him.

Dunwoody stared back at the now closed door with an open mouth and an expression on his face.

Then, without averting his gaze from the door, Dunwoody took the flask from his pocket and chucked into the bushes beside him.

Being a heavy drinker, Dunwoody had an impressive limit to his consumption.

But when he started seeing _ghosts…_

…that was where he drew the line.

**VII**

The life of a villain did not come with a very big arsenal of emotions. That was one of the many things you agreed to when you crossed over to that side.

Once you had declared yourself a baddie you were basically allowed a three feelings: Anger (perfect for the long standing grudges you will most likely form), Rage (a more extreme derivative of anger, perfect for your extremist types), and a complete sense of uber maniacal glee (essential for gloating and long winded victory speeches).

Aside from that however, your average villain had the emotional rage of a standard American golf ball.

So, as both Shego and Dr. Drakken sat there, in that off-white and beige waiting room, it was a whole new experience for them to be feeling the feelings they were experiencing.

So new were they to the two evil-doers that they didn't even have a name for them. Basically, the two felt like there was a festering wound on the _inside _of their chest, that continued to get bigger and bigger.

It was the damndest thing.

Shego sighed and glanced over to the end table on her right, and stared at the sullen, hairless creature that was sitting on it. Usually, upon seeing that weird little hairless rodent, the first thing Shego wanted to do was punt the thing into a whole new county…but now, right now, she had to fight off the urge to pick it up and stroke it's hairless body.

The poor thing looked absolutely miserable. Its entire body seemed to sag with the weight of it's now heavy heart. His eyes drooped downward and constantly focused on a place on the floor (He hadn't looked up in an hour). Even its color seemed to be taking a toll. Its usual bright, pink sheen was now like a lackluster shade of gray, no doubt mirroring the color of its most intricate emotions.

Shego brushed a tear from her eye as she turned away from the sad little naked mole rat. She couldn't bear to look at it anymore.

She then, like the rest of the people in the room, turned her focus to the floor and thought about the dim-witted, but big hearted, goofy little boy that she had battled so many times…and would never do so again.

It was amazing, really, when she thought about it. She had thought about the demise of her two foes, very fondly, for the past three years. She had sometimes even wrote out complex and climatic scenarios of the two's death in her journal before going to sleep.

But, she realized now that, no matter how many times the two had foiled her plans, she had never actually wanted to _succeed _in offing them. She had never wanted them to actually be _hurt._

And now that one of the two had finally "bit the big one"…well…see the brand new, never-felt-before-feeling that was currently eating up her chest.

She put her head in her hands and sighed. Today had been too much for her…Hell, it would be too much for, _anyone. _All she really wanted to do now was escape this place, these people, and this feeling, and try to go somewhere quiet to get her head together.

She sighed again…and closed her eyes.

"Stoppable," came the voice of her boss beside her.

Shego looked up.

''Scuse me?"

"Stoppable." Drakken repeated. "Ron Stoppable."

Shego raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah? What about him?"

"That was his name. Kim Possible's buffoonish sidekick…his name was Ron Stoppable."

Shego sat up straight in her chair and stared at her employer.

"Yeah. That was his name, all right."

"I could never remember his name. I must have seen him over a hundred times and I could never remember his name."

Shego paused, and thought about what he had said.

"You know, come to think of it, I don't think I ever knew it either…I guess I just never bothered to learn it."

Dr. Drakken nodded.

"Nor I. I never seemed to think it was important."

Shego mimicked his nod and looked out the window. She could still see the swirling, fiery clouds in the sky made by the Project Pegasus explosion. They were still enchantingly beautiful.

She cleared her throat before speaking.

"I don't think we'll ever forget his name now."

Drakken nodded, and gently slid his gloved hand over the top of hers, and held it gently.

"I don't think _anyone _will."

Once again, Shego had to brush tears away from her face. Even though this experience had opened new emotional doors for her, she still wasn't about to let someone see her cry.

Especiallwill."

Once again, Shego had to brush tears away from her face. Even though this experience had opened new emotional doors for her, she still wasn't about to let someone see her cry.

Especially not him.

They sat like that for a moment, hand in hand, two unexpected mourners in a small, badly decorated room, listening to the sounds of their own hearts beating a slow and somber march.

Or at least…they were…Until the General burst into the room that is.

"Possible is gone." He shouted into the room, his face the color and shape of a tomato.

Shego looked at the man quizzically but didn't get up from her chair.

"Hold your horses, chief…what exactly do you mean 'gone?' There isn't exactly a whole mess of places she could have gone too."

The General sighed. He clearly didn't have time to play games.

"I realize that," he said impatiently. "But the fact of the matter is she is not in the room where we left her…and…well…we're afraid she'll do something drastic."

Shego raised her eyebrow.

"Drastic? Drastic like how?"

General Gedden opened his mouth to answer, but instead the answer came from the tiny, bespectacled, Austrian man that had not made a sound since their landing.

"Drastic like suicide." Dr. Bortel said. "I assume that, by the state that young Ms. Possible was in, that that is what you are getting at, General?"

The General nodded.

"We fear that Ms. Possible might not be in the right state of mind. We received a statement from a security guard that his gun and ID badge were stolen. When we went to check on Ms. Possible we discovered that she was missing. And, as our training requires us, we assumed the worst."

Dr. Bortel nodded, but said no more.

The room was silent.

But only for a moment.

"By even insinuating suicide, you have proven to me that either of you don't know Kim Possible at all." Dr. Drakken said.

All eyes turned to face him.

"Oh?" The General said. "And I suppose you do?"

"Well I should, I've been punched in the face by her more times than I can count."

Drakken cleared his throat before continuing,

"You see, after all the years I've known Kim Possible I have noticed that, no matter how much it pains me to admit it, she is an impossibly strong woman. And not just physically. I' m certain that Kim Possible would no sooner choose suicide than she would choose_ you_ to arrange her wardrobe for her."

General Gedden looked affronted for a moment, but let the comment slide. Dr. Drakken _did _have a point. But that still didn't explain what happened to the gun and ID badge.

When General Gedden brought this point up to the blue villain he could only laugh.

"Well General…." He said. "The answer is obvious…once you start thinking about it from the right perspective…"

General Gedden glared at him.

"I don't have time for games. What are you getting at?"

"_Think _General, think. If Kim Possible isn't going to shoot _herself_, then who else do you think she plans to?"

Instantly, General Gedden's face went white as a sheet.

"The holding bay." He whispered.

And with that he turned on his heel with Drakken, Shego, Bortel and Rufus in hot pursuit.

They had almost gotten to the holding bay door when they ran into the absolute last person in the world they expected to.

**VII**

Adrian Derout leaned relaxed his form onto the cushiony bench in his holding cell.

_Very plush furniture for a man who's supposed to be in captivity._

He drew his right arm up to level with his eyes so he could view his watch.

He had been in this little room for almost twenty minutes…and nothing exciting had happened

Still, he didn't worry…He knew he had baited his trap perfectly.

She would come.

And then, as if though he were a prophet the familiar beeps and clicks of his cell door being opened crossed the room to his ears.

_Show time!  
_

He addressed the person in his cell without looking up, he knew who it was.

"Greetings, Ms. Possible" he said. He sat up.

"I must say you're late. I was beginning to think that you weren't going to show up at all. Quite rude of you to keep me waiting, actually."

As he stared at her, he couldn't help but smile at the face she was making…she absolutely _hated _him! Her face was perfectly construed to the absolute epitome of hatred as she raised a small firearm and pointed it directly at his chest.

"Get up."

Derout chortled and did as he was requested.

"Oh and you brought a gun! How '21st Century' of you. Where did you get a hold of one, anyway? Have you been packing this whole time and just kept it a secret? Naughty, Naughty!"

Kim's eyes narrowed at her captive. He could tell that she had made up her mind on what she was about to do.

_Perfect. Everything's going according to plan._

He stopped in front of her, his hands raised into the air, a playful smile etched across his face.

"Kneel." Kim barked at him.

Derout burst out laughing.

"Are you serious? You want to do this execution style? My, My, Ms. Possible, I had you pegged for many things but old-fashioned certainly wasn't one of them."

"KNEEL!" She yelled at him. He noticed that fresh tears began to trickle down her face again.

He chuckled once more before kneeling on the ground at her feet.

"If I may, Ms. Possible, before you avenge the little dead boy by splattering my brains all over the floor, could I, perhaps, ask you a question? Just what is it you plan to do after you dispose of me? Blame the butler?"

The young girl's expression faltered, but her posture did not. However, the simple facial twitch was enough to tell Derout exactly what he had expected.

"Ah, so I see. You _have _no plan, do you Kim? You're simply running on pure hatred alone."

He laughed.

"To be honest, I'm rather surprised at you. I thought that surely, the greatest 'teen hero' on Earth would have at least _some _sort of plan before committing murder."

He smiled quizzically at her.

"That _is _what you're planning to do, am I right?"

The young girl, with tears still streaming down her face, shook her head.

"No. This is isn't murder…it's justice."

Derout laughed out loud again.

"Oh yes, yes, of course. I forget you 'good guys' always have different names for crimes such as this…"

He smiled at her then. It amazed Kim that a face so handsome could make her want to vomit so badly.

She drew the gun up to his face. Her heart was racing. Her face was sweating, mixing with the tears.

It was now or never.

She pulled back the hammer on the gun.

And then…

…she hesitated.

"Derout raised an eyebrow.

"Well? Where's the finale? The big boom? Don't tell me you've come all the way down here to just leave me hanging."

Kim looked at his face, and then at the gun, and then at his face again.

His leaving, breathing face.

He stared into her eyes. They were cold and black, just like a lump of coal.

"Come on Kim…Do it…Kill me. Prove to me that the rumors are true. Prove to me that…'Anything is Possible for a Possible."

He smiled at her, and said no more.

She hung her head.

She realized then that, no matter what this man had done to her, she simply couldn't take another person's life. She was a hero…and that meant that she had to make right choice…mo matter what.

Besides…what would Ron think of her?

And so then, with a heart as heavy as it was pure, she dropped the gun and ID badge to the floor, and then fell to her knees.

"I can't" she moaned to the floor. "I just can't."

In a flash, Derout had snatched up the gun and was on his feet. In one fell swoop he had managed to reverse the roles of executioner and prisoner.

And now he was the one with the gun.

"Just as I thought" he said, pointing the gun directly at the point in between Kim's eyes. "You, Kim Possible, are pathetic. You are just as much a coward as that useless, no account, boyfriend of yours."

Derout smiled, and pulled the hammer back.

"Now that I think about it…I'd say it's about time the two of you were reunited."

His placed his finger on the trigger.

And then suddenly a voice from the open door of the cell rang out through its four walls.

"Dude" it said, "I don't think you have any idea who you're talking too at all"

Derout froze.

_No…it can't be._

He turned to face the owner of the voice…and his heart stopped cold.

"No…" He breathed. "It's impossible…"

"Actually" the figure said, as it entered the room. "When that little lady next to you is involved…nothing is impossible."

The figure of Ron Stoppable smiled before adding:

"So Mr. Derout…How's this for a dramatic entrance?"

**To Be Continued…**

Well…it took a while (and it was a little bit of a pain) but the next installment of The Things I Never Knew is finished.

To wrap this up, I would like to thank the very kind reviewers who have been pointing out my spelling mistakes…your help has been much appreciated.

Secondly, I would very much like to thank everyone who has been reviewing so far…it really is a spirit lifter when I get to read all of your comments and to find out that this story is appreciated.

Thank you very much,

Everhere Everthere


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Kim Possible or any of its characters.

**Chapter 15**

**The Hull of Project Pegasus**

**Thirty Seconds before Initial Impact**

Air came into the lungs of Ron Stoppable at short, shaky intervals.

After he watched the rocket carrying the girl of his dreams to safety, he began to notice that breathing had become a more difficult task than usual.

_It must be the altitude, _he thought to himself, _how far up am I anyway? Ten Miles? Twenty?_

Ron dismissed the thoughts from his brain. He decided it didn't really matter how high up he was…

…The end would come soon either way.

Ron inhaled a deep, gasping breath as he allowed himself one final look over the landscape of the D.C, area, as seen from many miles above.

He exhaled calmly, much like someone would after being relieved of a burden.

It really was beautiful, the landscape. Even at this twilight hour he could still see the miniscule forms of the cars and the people. They all looked like tiny little dots to him, just tiny, colorful dots on a massive canvass that was Washington.

The setting sun cast a shining, golden tint on all of the monuments and buildings, making them resemble pieces in a jewelry box.

It was truly a majestic sight to behold.

Ron sighed and began to let his mind wander to, surprisingly not of his upcoming demise, but to Kim. Beautiful Kim…Wonderful Kim…

And…thanks to him…a living Kim.

He allowed a smile to cross his face as he thought of her, and, of course, what she had said to him before departing.

_I love you Ron…_

_ …I love you._

Even now, after hearing the words come from her own mouth, he could scarcely believe it.

She loved him.

_She _loved _him._

And this time it wasn't a dream…it wasn't a fairy tale…it was real life.

Beautiful, glorious life.

And he was overjoyed to have lived it…

…however short it might have been.

Ron shook his head and flung those thoughts from his head. He scolded himself for thinking like that. Yes, it was true that he wasn't going to get his happy ending, but, in the end, he had gotten what he had always really wanted, hadn't he?

An undying, untarnished, love for someone…and then to have them love you back?

What more could a guy ask for?

Besides, what was that old saying?

"Tis better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all."

Yeah…Ol' Alfred Tennyson sure knew how to spin a deep and profound fable. That was for sure.

Ron wondered if maybe Lord Tennyson had experienced a love like his and Kim's. And, if so, he wondered what had split them up? The quote had to have been inspired from somewhere, after all, so had they been split up? Had it been death? Another man? Another woman?

_Well, it sure as hell wasn't due to a nuclear missile._

Ron chuckled to himself as he tried (with some difficulty) to relax his body into the hull of the airship. He was pleased with himself that, even in the face of death, he was still able to make jokes.

If there was one thing about himself that Ron truly valued it was his sense of humor. After all, what better way to exit this world than with a smile on your face?

And that is exactly what Ron did as he waited for his end to come. He smiled. And not one of those corny, half-assed smiles you smile when taking a picture with your grandmother either, but a great, big, goofy, fun-loving smile that had become a personal trademark of his own.

He continued to smile as his soul cleared and his demons washed away.

Yes sir, Ron Stoppable was going to exit this world the way he had entered it, without a care or worry in the world.

He was free.

He realized then that he had no regrets or no unfinished business. He had no woes or ill-feelings toward anyone (not even Adrian Derout). He had…

…something in his pocket.

Puzzled, Ron reached down into his left pocket and pulled out something he had only seen two times in his entire life, once in the hands of Dr. Drakken, and once on the waist of Adrian Derout.

_Holy canole! _Ron thought to himself, _it's that bubble thingy!_

Ron brought up the foreign object up closer to his eye level, to examine it more closely. It didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. In fact, it didn't look like anything more than an overpriced, gaudy belt buckle. It was hexagonal in shape, and a pale green glass dome in the center.

_Leave to a bad guy to have bad fashion sense._

Ron cocked his arm back, ready to chuck the thing off the ship, as a sort of last act of defiance from the young, tow-headed teen, when the voice of Adrian Derout stopped him.

Like on some bizarre type of replay setting, his brain began to relay something the villain had said to him earlier.

"_You'll all be eviscerated! Vaporized! But not me, oh no not me, not as long as I have my defense bubble!"_

_Defense Bubble…_

At the time, Ron had only seen Derout's magic bubble as another trial he and Kim would have to face…another obstacle they would have to overcome.

But now…now that he was up here, miles above the Earth's surface, and without any other means of escape…it was more than that.

It just might be his ticket for one more chance at life…

…his ticket back to her.

Ron continued to stare at the device, reluctant to believe his good fortune.

Could it really be that simple? Did he honestly have chance?

Any normal person would have said no, they would have said something like that was "too good to be true" and that the machine wouldn't work anyway.

They would say that it would be impossible.

Ron smiled to himself.

Impossible? He had learned from a very special lady that that word didn't even exist.

He knew then that, for the sake of all that he had ever known, he had to at least give it a try.

He looked down below his feet and saw a plethora of lights flashing. He then saw a section of the ground open up.

_Uh oh._

Frantically, he began to mash and smash every button on the strange little device, hoping to God and whoever else might be listening, that he could make it work.

_Come on…Come on! Come on, work!_

He looked down again and saw a small red dot appear at the center of the newfound opening in the ground, followed by a few more series of flashing lights and (he could just barely make it out) the sound of an automated countdown.

_Crap! Come on, baby, daddy needs to not be blown into molecules!_

A low rumbling sound made his way into Ron's ear canal. The missile had launched.

Sweating profusely, Ron gave the strange device on final SMACK along its right side.

And he was instantly surrounded in a light, greenish hue, the familiar sense of claustrophobia settling in.

_Wow, _Ron thought, _that was lucky._

He looked down again to see the missile, freshly launched, start to eat up the distance between him and the airship.

He gulped.

_It's now or never, Ron._

And then, before his common sense could interfere, he jumped from the hull of the ship and prayed that it was not the last thing he would ever do.

**II**

Ron Stoppable wasn't falling.

Not quite.

If anything, he was _floating._

He felt his feet leave the hull of the ship, he felt his eyes close tight, but…after that…nothing.

_I waited too long, _was his fist thought, _I waited too long and now I'm at the big Bueno Nacho in the sky!_

He had his eyelids closed so tight together that they may as well have been welded shut; he had been counting on the impact to jostle them open.

But now, he wasn't so sure the impact was coming anymore.

He couldn't believe it. After all of that aboard the hull of the ship…the end still came for ron Stoppable.

Ron sighed. He supposed he had only himself to blame. He should have known better to not try and cheat the Reaper himself.

Besides…if he _had _died, it wasn't so bad. He hadn't even felt the explosion. He must have been eviscerated so fast that the pain just didn't have time to get there.

Which suited him just fine.

And hey, this floating thing was pretty cool.

Ron smiled to himself as he thought:

_Well…if this _is _heaven, there's no o sense in keeping my eyes shut now. Might as well see if it's all it's cracked up to be._

And so then, with as much strength as it would take opening a rusted door, Ron opened his eyes…

…and nearly had a heart attack.

The world was rushing at him at an alarming speed. He could now see the white lines of the city streets directly due north of him. He could see the till lines of the farmland on the south. He could see the gently lapping currents of the Potomac, snaking through the D.C. area like a giant, blue ribbon.

This _is heaven? Man, did Rabbi Katz ever get this wrong._

He was baffled. And the closer the Earth came to him the more baffled he became. He had always been told Heaven was an immaculate paradise where his every fantasy came to fruition.

But now, it seemed, he had entered his second life, just as he left the old one.

Falling.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Ron shook his head and rubbed his eyes, hoping that maybe he was only hallucinating.

He wasn't.

_I don't understand_, he thought, _Why aren't I going _up? _Did I do something wrong?_

_Why aren't I going up?_

Then, just as he would he would have been about level with the top of the U.S. Capitol, the answer came to him.

_Maybe I'm not going up because…I've been given a second chance!_

Yes! That must be it. Surely that was it. Heaven had decided to give him a second chance!

A second chance…

High above him, the missile made its mark sending an enormous shockwave that propelled down twice as fast.

And Ron promised, as he crashed into a field in some farm on the Northern part of the D.C. area, that he would make the most of it.

**III**

It never occurred to the wonderful, childlike mind of Ron Stoppable that there may have been a scientific explanation for his other-worldly experience.

He never thought, even for a second, that the feeling of weightlessness he had was completely due to the fact that his body received no hinting that it was falling at all.

Not once did he think that his floating feeling, due the air resistance of his fall being blocked by the walls of the defense bubble and the fact that he had his eyes closed, was a cause of the natural world.

Not once.

But rather, the beauty and innocence of his brain caused him to believe that he had been spared by a being so awesome and merciful that it had the power to grant him new life. He believed not in the modern explanation of man, but in the untainted explanation of his own heart.

And that, in the grand scope of things, is more beautiful than any landscape.

Ron Stoppable would go on to believe that he had been spared death to the intervention of the divine, and that suited him just fine.

And, as is their nature, people tried to sway him to a more Earthly explanation.

But did Ron Stoppable ever listen to a word they said?

Or course not.

He was much too smart for that.

**IV**

**The Holding Cell in the Rutherford Hayes Research Center**

**Present Time**

_How?_

_How in the bloody hell…?_

These were the only thoughts going through the mind of Adrian Derout as he stood stock still, the gun hanging limply in his hand, and stared at the young man who he had been certain was dead.

And all he could wonder was how.

Adrian Derout, despite his evil tendencies, was a very well educated man. Some might even call him a genius. And he knew for a fact that no man (even one as insanely lucky as this fool) could've survived an explosion involving a nuclear warhead, much the subsequent forty-thousand foot fall.

So how, in that name of all that was holy, was he standing here before him?

How?

The young boy smiled and, as if Derout was not even present, he walked right past him to the kneeling girl at his feet (who bore an equally shocked expression on her own face). Once there, he gently brought the girl to her feet, brought her in close to his body, and pressed his lips onto hers as gently as a flower petal landing on a blade of grass. The girl, despite the look of shock, reciprocated his actions with vigor.

And Adrian Derout was so shocked he didn't even remember to make a sarcastic comment.

All he could do was stare.

After several moments, the young boy broke the kiss and gazed into the eyes of the woman he had kissed. Their gaze remained locked for a few moments more; it seemed that neither dared to speak.

And then finally, she spoke:

"Ron" she said, in a voice that was no more than a whisper. "How…?

"Shh" the boy said, putting his finger to her lips to silence her. "I promise I'll tell you everything…I just have to take care of something."

The boy gave her one last small peck on her lips (her still confused face brightened) and turned to look at Derout. The face he was making now was eerily identical to the one he had made hours ago on board the Project Pegasus.

"Before I forget" he said, grinning. "I think I have something of yours."

He reached into his pocket and pulled what appeared to be a very worn, very battered, old belt buckle.

Derout caught it without looking away from his face. "This little gadget of yours really came in handy."

Confused, Derout looked down at the gadget he now held in his hand.

And instantly…it all became clear.

A smile broke across Derout's face.

_This boy isn't a Superman…just a scavenger who had happened to hit the jackpot._

Derout began to chuckle, an eerie sound starting from inside his chest, and then escaping from his mouth.

_He's flesh and blood…just like anyone else. He's nothing special._

The chuckle formed into a deep, boisterous laugh. It's eerie, malignant sound began to spread all across the holding cell like a blackened chime.

_And now, best of all, I have his weakness!_

The laughter continued to boom throughout the entire cell. So loud in fact, that security guards stationed _outside _the facility got the goose bumps.

And it is believed Derout would've kept laughing until his voice box ruptured, had it not been for the interruptance of General David Gedden and his two armed personnel making their entrance.

"Hands in the air, Derout!" The General barked. "It's over! We have you surrounded!"

And then, to everyone's surprise, Derout threw the gun to floor and smiled that same eerie little smile he had now imbedded in everyone's brain.

"There's no need for violence, General." The Englishman quipped. "Adrian Derout knows when he is beaten. I will come with you quietly."

The General balked, but only for a second. After that second was up his military persona, flared once again to its full potential and he and his guards had Derout in handcuffs in a matter of seconds.

"Oh _impressive _time, Gentlemen! I dare say, this would have been a mildly annoying factor if I had not come willingly!"

The guards ignored the villain's comments, and continued to lead the man out of the area.

They were almost to the door when a sudden outburst from the enchanting, baritone voice of Derout made them stop.

"Mr. Stoppable!"

The guards looked at General Gedden, looking over his face for a sign of approval. General Gedden, in turn, looked over the face of Ron Stoppable, searching for the same. Ron gave the General a curt nod, and Gedden mimicked his actions.

And then, slowly, the two guards whirled the form of Adrian derout around so that he was now face to face with his greatest nemesis.

It was with a slow, menacing tone that Derout spoke his parting words.

"You have beaten me today, Ron Stoppable, because I made the simple error of underestimating you. Do keep in mind that the next time we meet, you will not have this advantage."

Ron's eyes narrowed and his expression turned into a frown.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Derout, but there won't _be _a next time. You're going away until you'll be too old to even _spell _'vengeance.'"

Derout smiled that famous eerie smile as the guards began to steer him out of the holding cell.

"We shall see, boy…We shall see."

**V**

Adrian Derout was led away without anymore conflict, yet his final words still lingered in the air like the remnants of an offensive swear word.

"Good Riddance" the General spat. "I'll be pushing daisies by the time that nut job sees the sunshine again. Mark my words."

His expression brightened as he turned to the young couple beside him. The same two young people who had earned his respect faster than anyone else in his entire life.

"Mr. Stoppable, Ms. Possible…" he began, before smiling and correcting himself: "Kim, Ron. The Rutherford Hayes Research Center and the United States of America cannot thank you enough for your services today. In fact, as soon as we're done here I plan on calling the President myself and personally request that you both be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal."

They both smiled politely, but it was immediately clear to the General that neither planned to accept the award.

"Thanks General Gedden," Kim said. "But, if it's all the same to you, there's something else you could do for us that would prove much more beneficial."

The General smiled.

"Anything you want, Ms. Possible. Just say the word."

Kim smiled at put her arm around the boy next to her.

"Can you hook me and Superman here up with a ride? My Kimmunicator's still fried and I'm sure we have very nervous parents at home."

**VI**

Adrian Derout sat, handcuffed, in a small non descript office in the canck of the RHRC and smirked at the short, Austrian scientist and the man with an American Flag in his lapel that sat across from him.

Neither of the two returned the smile.

"Gentleman," Derout said. "I am prepared to take you up on your offer."

He extended his hand.

The man with the American Flag lapel appeared hesitant.

"As a personal rule, I don't shake hands with terrorists."

Derout laughed.

"It seems to me like you have no other choice in the matter, Mr. President."

The President of the United States balked for a moment, but then, reluctantly, shook the man's hand.

Derout smirked.

"Now…" he said. "About _my _terms of the agreement…"

**VII**

Kim Possible had to hold her sides together, for gear they would burst apart from laughing. She let herself fall onto the shoulder of the blonde-haired boy on her side and snuggled in close to him.

"You're kidding, right?" Ron Stoppable said, wiping a tear from his eye.

Kim shook her head.

"Nope. You were my knight in cheap, Wal-Mart, Flannel."

Ron chuckled again and placed his arm around Kim, pulling her closer to him. She sighed softly as she snuggled in.

Suddenly sensing that "Three was a Crowd" Rufus, who had been joyfully reunited with Ron only moments ago, scurried into the confines of his master's cargo sanctuary.

"You know, it figures…"Ron said. "That even in someone _else's _dream I lose my pants."

Kim giggled from her resting place on his shoulder.

"Yeah…seems like that thing happens to you no matter _where _you go."

"Looks that way…maybe I should have kept that bubble-making belt of Derout's, huh?"

Kim nodded, and wrapped her arm around Ron's waist.

"Well…pants or no pants…you were absolutely amazing today Ron. Twice today I had thought I lost you…and twice you managed to find your way back." She sighed before continuing: "You are incredible, Ron Stoppable."

Ron smiled and gave her a little squeeze.

"Well, what can I say? I _did _have great inspiration."

Kim giggled.

"That's sweet."

The two remained quiet for a few moments more, simply enjoying the company of one another. It would be said months later (by a man named Silas Mackenzie, whom the two had yet to meet) that it was in their silence that Ron and Kim communicated the best.

After a few more moments of silent bliss, Ron cleared his throat and spoke.

"Hey, Kim?"

"Hmm?"

"Today, right before the missile hit…I thought I had died and gone to heaven."

Kim opened her eyes and sat up, a little concerned.

"You did?"

He nodded.

"Of course, that was only for a little while. I don't think that anymore."

Kim smiled.

"Oh yeah?"

Ron smiled back and took her face in his hands, and he made sure to look her right in those beautiful eyes of hers when he said:

"Yeah. And now…I'm sure of it."

And with that he pressed his lips next hers in a kiss that would have brought the one they shared two days ago under the effects of the Moodulator to shame.

**VIII**

Adrian Derout looked from his invention and smiled at the two men overseeing his progress.

"It's finished." He said, with a hint of arrogance in his voice.

Dr. Bortel glared at the villain.

"Impossible. There's no way you could've completed it this quickly!"

Derout flashed him a toothy grin.

"Correction. There's no way _you _could've completed it this quickly. I, on the other hand, well…let's just say there's a reason the President asked a terrorist to build his machine."

Dr. Bortel looked as if he was about to retaliate, but the man on his left interrupted him.

"How soon will it be ready?"

Derout raised an eyebrow.

"My, my, aren't we the eager beaver today?" He laughed at his own joke. "Fear not, Mr. President, as soon as I press this button all of your problems will be over."

The President frowned as he placed his uniquely-shaped ear buds in his ear. A few seconds later, Derout and Bortel did the same.

"Then let's get this over with."

Derout nodded and guided his finger close to a shining red button.

"Hold on to your hats, gentleman. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

And then, with an eager smile on his lips, Derout pressed the button.

**IX**

"Well, Ms. Possible, we at the Rutherford Hayes Research Institute can't thank you enough for returning the cybernetics project to us." The old man in army regalia said. "We owe you a great deal of gratitude."

Kim possible swept the hair out her eyes and smiled.

"It was no big, General Gedden. _Anyone _could have fought off an entire army of robotic droids with nothing but a slingshot and a tennis ball."

"Who knew those two made such a lethal combination?" The young blonde boy on her right quipped, earning him a squeak of agreement from the rodent on his right shoulder.

Kim rolled her eyes at her goofy friend and continued.

"I'm just sorry weren't able to get our hands on Drakken and Shego. We almost had them too, but _somebody _thought it would be cool to activate one of the robot's flamethrowers and turn on the sprinkler system!"

Ron put on a goofy smile and shrugged.

"Hey, in my defense, it was pretty cool."

The General put up a hand. "In any case," he said. "I'm sure the boys in the Cybernetics Department will be thrilled to death to have their baby back. I expect we can finally get things back on track as soon as Dr. Herschel's replacement comes in. You know it still boggles my mind…who on Earth retires at twenty-eight?"

Kim shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe he just had other interests to pursue."

The General nodded.

"That must be it."

The low rumbling of a helicopter caused the entire party to look up.

"Well it looks as if though you're ride is here," The General observed. "Safe travels, Kim Possible, and remember that the Rutherford Hayes Research Center owes you big."

Kim smiled as she boarded the air craft.

"We'll keep that in mind."

And with that Kim Possible took her seat next to her best friend and they rose upward into the sky.

**X**

Kim flopped down in her seat and sighed heavily. She looked over at Ron who was casually leaned back in his chair and had his feet propped up on a toolbox.

"Well, KP, I'd say we can chalk this one up under "Another job well done."

Kim gave a tired smile and leaned her chair back.

"Just another day on the job, I guess." She said. "I don't about you but I'm exhausted, after the clean-up from Hurricane Dante and this little outing, I feel my legs are going to fall off."

Ron nodded.

"I hear you, Kim. As soon as the Ronman gets home, he's going to cash in a first-class ticket on the dreamland express."

Kim looked over at her friend, suddenly puzzled.

"Ron," she asked, "Since when do you dress up?"

Ron looked down at the neatly pressed, black, button-down shirt and dark blue jeans he was wearing and frowned.

"You know, come to think of it, I don't even remember putting this on…I must've been more out of it this morning than I thought."

Kim stared at him for a second, without speaking.

Ron raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

Kim, her face growing slightly red, stared up at him.

"Nothing…it's just that…uh…black looks good on you…and it wouldn't exactly kill you to dress up more often."

Ron made a spitting sound with his mouth.

"Yeah…right. I could be the next Rico Suave."

Kim shrugged.

"I'm just saying…it wouldn't kill you."

"No, but it might give me a rash."

Kim laughed and laid her head back once more, this time closing her eyes. It wasn't long after that the fatigue of the following day finally got to her and she was fast asleep.

Ron stared at her for a few minutes before returning his gaze out the window. He was pretty tired himself but _someone _had to tell the pilot when to land.

_Besides, _Ron thought to himself, _Kim could use the rest._

The flight retained that same air of quiet tranquility inside the helicopter for a few more moments. But then, something happened that had never before happened on an after mission return flight.

Kim Possible, leaving the sitting position in her chair, and laid her head on Ron's shoulder, snuggling in close to his body.

Ron, confused at first was about to awake his best friend, but soon thought better of it.

_She needs her rest._

And, even though he wouldn't admit it, even to himself, he quite liked the place where she had lain just fine.

Snuggling in closer to his, she said something that was so bizarre that even the convoluted mind of Ron Stoppable was baffled.

"Goodnight…crawfish."

A curious look fell on the face of Ron Stoppable, but he still didn't wake up the sleeping girl next to him.

She really did need her rest…and he could always ask her when they landed.

And so Ron Stoppable let the question drop from his mind.

And, a few seconds later, somewhere over the state of Tennessee, Ron too, fell asleep, with his resting against the girl person he was closer to than anyone else.

**To Be Continued.**

So, ladies and germs, this is the final _chapter _of this story. There is, however, an epilogue coming up in the _very near _future and I promise it will answer any questions you may have.

In the meantime, as always, please read and review.

Sincerely,

Everhere Everthere


	16. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own aspects of the Kim Possible franchise, that belongs to the Disney Corporation.

**Epilogue**

**Dr. Elizabeth Poole's Case Notes**

**Date: 27 May, 2007**

**Subject: Adrian Vincent Derout**

**Reason for Incarceration: Submitted by the State for Patient's Own Safety**

**May 27: ****I met the patient for the first time today. Upon first glance, I noticed that the patient looked very calm, very serene. He wore his prison uniform like the rest of the inmates, but he walked with much more of a pristine confidence than the rest of them. I also that his fingernails were trimmed, his teeth brushed, his hair perfectly coifed…it had reminded of someone heading to the office instead of their first session with a psychiatrist. Below, is a written recording of my first encounter with the patient, as recorded by my assistant Gabrielle.**

**10:45. Dr. Poole Enters. Patient is seated in leather armchair in asylum uniform. He is smoking a cigarette.**

**Dr. Poole: Good Morning, Adrian. Thank you for meeting with me.**

**Adrian: Oh, believe me Doctor, the pleasure is mine.**

**Dr. Poole: Adrian, you know the rules. I'm going to have to ask that you put that out.**

**[**_**patient laughs]**_

**Adrian: Of course Doctor. You'll have to forgive me, I am a man of dreadful habits.**

**P: Yes, I've read your file. You have several bad habits.**

**A: Oh, why bother wasting your time reading a thing like that? A smart, educated, woman such as yourself should be reading literary classics. [**_**pause**__**]**_** I say, have you ever read **_**A Catcher in the Rye?**_

**P: No, I haven't. But I'm afraid the works of Salinger are not up for discussion.**

**A: Ah, yes. You're here to talk to me about [**_**pauses**_**] my apparent condition. Is that right?**

**P: If that's what the conversation leads to, then yes. But for right now, I'd like to focus on **_**you**_**, Adrian.**

**A: And what is it about me that you'd like to know?**

**P: Well, my job is to find the workings of your quiet mind. What makes you tick. Perhaps we could start with your childhood?**

**A: I was born, I grew up, and I was incarcerated here. Anything else?**

**P: Surely there is more you can tell me than that.**

**A: Sorry to disappoint you, dear, but I'm afraid my childhood is dreadfully uneventful.**

**P: Well then, perhaps we could start with**

**[**_**patient interrupts**_**]**

**A: Doctor Poole, please, if I may interject, why are we wasting our time with the past? You and I both know full well the reason for your visit, so why not stop beating around the bush and get to the point? You're here to find exactly why I am a patient in this institution, right? To find out what makes me insane?**

**P: Well, that's not the terminology **_**I **_**would use but, yes, essentially that's why I am here.**

**A: I see. Well then, Dr. Poole, I can tell you now that you are wasting your time. I am many things, this is true, but I am not insane.**

**P: Adrian, according to your file you were incarcerated here by the State due to repeated suicide attempts and**

**[**_**patient bursts out laughing**_**]**

**A: Is **_**that **_**what they told you? Suicide attempts? My Lord, I never thought they would get so creative with their cover stories.**

**P: Cover stories, Adrian?**

**A: Yes, Dr. Poole, cover stories. As in falsehoods used to cover up a hidden truth.**

**P: I know what a cover story is, Adrian.**

**A: Oh yes, Doctor, I'm sure you do. Yes, I'm sure you learned all about it at [**_**pause**_**] Where was it you graduated from, dear?**

**P: That's none of your business.**

**A: Ah…so am I to assume your degree was purchased online then?**

**P: Adrian this is very inappropriate. You have no business getting into my private matters.**

**A: Private matters? My dear girl, how can you be so naïve? Don't you know that no matter can ever be private?**

**P: I don't know what you mean.**

**A: You don't, do you? No, no I suppose you wouldn't. We all made sure of that.**

**P: We?**

**A: Yes, we. Dr. Poole, what if I told you that, a little over a year ago, I stole a piece of machinery that had the power to devastate the entire world?**

**P: I would have to ask you to expound on that further.**

**A: I had the world at my fingertips; I had the planet on a platter. I even sent out a worldwide broadcast warning humanity of their upcoming demise. Oh, how they panicked…**

**P: Adrian, I do not remember any such event.**

**A: Of course you don't, my dear. You see, we **_**made **_**you forget.**

**P: And who is we?**

**A: Why me, a scientist named Bortel, and the President, of course.**

**P: The President? Of the United States?**

**A: The very same. He and the scientist had me create a device that altered the brainwaves of everyone on the planet.**

**P: I see, and how did it work, this device.**

**A: Ah, yes. It was very simple really, once you knew where to start. You see the Doctor, Bortel, I believe was his name, had invented a device called a Moodulator which has the ability to enhance the emotions of whomever it is attached to. And, when you think about it, memories are really just small subsidiaries of whatever emotion it was attached to, such as sadness, joy, fear, etc. etc. So, it was really a no-brainer to connect the Moodulator with the same device I used to broadcast myself over the airwaves of the masses. Once that was accomplished, it was all too easy alter the brainwaves of every man, woman, and child on the planet.**

**P: I see. And why is it that the President asked you, a supposed terrorist, to build this machine for him, and what was so cataclysmic of this event that it required erasing the memories of all who had seen it?**

**A; To answer your questions, in order, he asked me because I was the only man who could build it, and as to why, well, you can imagine the kind of aftermath this all would've caused. If the public found out the government had technology like the one I stole there would be riots, public outcry…impeachment. And, with re-elections only two years away you could imagine the president's caution.**

**P: Yes, of course. So tell me, Adrian, exactly what did **_**you **_**get out of the deal? Surely you didn't walk away empty handed?**

**[**_**laughter**_**]**

**A: Oh heavens no, Doctor, I was reciprocated.**

**P: And how, may I ask?**

**A: Well, that is, what is the expression? For me to know and for you to find out.**

**P: Yes, well, I hope I will some day.**

**A: As do I, Doctor. As do I.**

**P: Well, Adrian, our time is up. Thank you for seeing me today. Our visit was [**_**pause**_**] illuminating.**

**A: I am happy to be of service.**

**P: So, same time next month?**

**A: I shall look forward to it.**

**End Recording.**

**Final Analysis: ****Patient seems to suffer from excessive amounts of arrogance and feelings of grandeur, very uncommon in suicide patients. Also, is very delusional. Seems to recall events which have never happened and believes he personally knows the President.**

**Recommended Treatment: Continual visits from myself, and a daily dose of Heliectocortozone (for the patients "vivid" imagination). Other than that, patient seems completely harmless. Honestly, I wonder why he is kept in the Secure Holding Bay.**

**More updates as treatment continues.**

**End Session**

**The End**

So, my dear readers, that's the story. As you may have noticed, I decided at the very end, _not _to make it an AU so as to keep the events of _So The Drama _can take place as the show intended, thus the whole memory altering incident.

If anyone has any questions regarding the story, feel free to message me and ask.

Now, as far as a sequel goes…well, that's up to the readers, now isn't it? I highly enjoyed writing this story and would love to write another installment if, and only if, it is recommended by the readers.

So, with that little message, I will leave you to read and review, this segment, and the story as a whole.

Until next time,

Everhere Everthere


End file.
